When tackling Twitter marketing, it’s always good to check out what other brands are rocking. Sometimes you’ll be inspired, while other times you’ll be glad your little company didn’t make the big mistakes that huge companies have made on Twitter. Either way, it’s educational and entertaining. Lately, some campaigns have been using Twitter hashtags and Twitter themed apps to battle bad behavior.

Take this awesome Twitter effort from Mentos. Less of a campaign and more of an app, Mentos has unveiled an effort to help keep negativity out of our Twitter feeds. The Negative Tweet Eliminator is actually a Facebook app starring that guru of minty awesomeness, Zen master Dragee. In the app, Dragee sits cross-legged and blows up bad tweets in real time. While the tweets are actually still on Twitter, the considerate bearded mystic at least rids your newsfeed of tweets with negative hashtags like #Fail.

Funny and timely stuff, considering how many Twitter battles are raging at this particular moment. Incorporating positivity and humor into our social media messages is a good way to wage a war on bad social media juju.

Less effective is an awareness campaign to stop misogyny. The hashtag #mencallmethings was launched by blogger Sady Doyle to draw attention to the hateful terms men call women on Twitter. While well-meaning and subversive, the hashtag doesn’t quite hit the mark because it actually fuels misogynistic phrases; in fact, dozens popped up minutes after the tag was launched. That being said, it’s hard not to call it a success because #mencallmethings got pundits and feminists and marketers all talking about the campaign… and that is why most of us tweet in the first place!

So there’s a few recent Twitter campaigns stamping out bad vibes. But let’s hear from you: Do any campaigns on Twitter have you inspired? And how do you do your part to spread cyber sunshine?

Every summer as the County Fair is held in towns across the country, food lovers, festival fans and oddity collectors marvel at the latest food creations sold to fairgoers. From barbeque pork sundaes to Krispy Kreme cheeseburgers, food blogs have taken a liking to spotlighting a new and slightly terrifying treat every year. The fair food phenom of 2011? Hands down, it has to be deep-fried Kool-Aid. Yes, the beloved Kool-Aid man has been kidnapped, dipped in batter, dusted in powdered sugar and served up for thousands of adventurous eaters.

While the head scratching machinations of such a treat are cause for many a tweet (as of this writing, “Deep Fried Kool-Aid” is trending on Twitter), the real story here is Charlie Boghosian, the marketing marvel and mad genius behind these devilish delights.

For the last five years, Chicken Charlie’s has wound up in every national newspaper and online news website for throwing odd food items in a deep fryer and selling them at highly-attended summer county and state fairs across America. Twinkies, Girl Scout cookies, s’mores, avocados, Oreos and now Kool Aid have all taken the deep fryer plunge and wound up on Charlie’s menu. Conan O’Brien, ABC News, the Los Angeles Times and scads of food bloggers have covered the culinary “oh no he didn’t!” adventures of Boghosian. For a business that only operates during the summer, Charlie relies on his newest menu items causing a sensation.

During the summer months, Facebook and the company’s website work overtime in tempting hungry fairgoers with deep-fried delicacies. Deep fried Kool-Aid, which is something like donut holes with the drink mix added to the batter, have caused a stir, with mentions in the San Diego Union Tribune and the LA Weekly.

Charlie and his frying factory might not be for everyone’s palette, but the story of a guy who loves to fry any and every thing is one news outlets haven’t gotten tired of. The story is timeless and entertaining — in other words, it’s PR gold.

So, my lovely readers, let me ask you this: What story, product or service does your business have that is marketing and media magic? Holler back in the comments section below!

Whether a person has a relationship with energy drinks says a lot about that person. I use the word “relationship” because Red Bull, Monster and the like tend to develop romances with their consumers. Is it the high caffeine content or the weird vitamin smell that turns seemingly normal people into junkies? Who knows, but whatever it is, energy drinks have this power over their devotees who soon either become ashamed spouses who know their relationship with Red Bull is wrong but they just can’t stop or brazen energy drink guzzlers who pound the funky-smelling stuff not caring if it burns a hole in their stomachs or makes their heads explode.

So now, a decade or so after being introduced to the marketplace, the American Academy of Pediatrics has come out with a scathing report that not only recommends that children never consume energy drinks but also scolds the beverage industry for marketing the drinks to young people. If you read that sentence and then said “duh” — well, that would be the appropriate response. Of course these things are horrible and naturally beverage makers are marketing them to children. This is the same song and dance liquor and cigarettes have been doing for the past 100 years.

Red Bull officials, however, say they do not target kids in their ads. In a statement, the company who uses animation in its television spots said, “We do not market our product to children and other caffeine-sensitive people.” Well, I have no doubt that the company does not mean to look as though it is intentionally marketing to children, but that isn’t to say its product isn’t appealing to them. Red Bull has become a master of online branding and social media marketing. The company hits its 18-and-up demographic while “unintentionally” looking cool to the tween set, too. The Red Bull Soap Box Racer game, for example, features build-it-yourself custom racers and is available to friends who like the brand on Facebook. While it may not have been designed for my 12-year-old nephew, it definitely is the kind of thing he would find cool.

But Red Bull isn’t alone when it comes to youth-tinged marketing. (Check out Coca-Cola’s new interactive boxes for further proof.) Again, none of this is surprising and the allegations will most likely have very little impact on the sales of energy drinks. Besides, Red Bull, like every other brand, is trying to develop relationships with buyers regardless of what age they are.

So let’s turn it over to you, dear readers. Are energy drinks the new cigarettes when it comes to marketing? Let us know in the comments section below!