"Why make your insecurities our problem?" reads a tweet from supplement brand Protein World, after complaints poured in over a controversial billboard. It's followed by a passive aggressive winking emoji and tweeted directly at a potential customer – breaking every rule in the social media playbook, right?

Trolls are near-omnipresent across social media platforms and forums, purposefully seeking to derail how people and brands communicate online. Yet while these interactions are usually seen as malicious, how can brands use trolling tactics to create a unique voice and win over the public?

It may have once satirised branded content – “oh, awesome, a sponsored post by a snack food company on my favorite media website” – but with the creation of an in-house advertising agency, The Onion will now cater to marketers with native videos and articles. Why would any brand pay to be ridiculed?

Luckily for anyone whose ‘Nasty Woman’ t-shirt needs a wash, a face-off between US senators Elizabeth Warren and Mitch McConnell has created a new meme. The catchphrase ‘Nevertheless, She Persisted’ has made its way offline and on to t-shirts, including one from Reebok.