Walk into the frozen food aisle of any Walmart or Kroger right now and you're bound to see something bizarre. Bags of frozen food shaped like the numbers six and seven. They're not math tools for toddlers. They're a direct corporate cash-in on Gen Alpha brain rot.
If you don't have a middle-schooler at home, the phrase "six seven" probably means nothing to you. For millions of kids, it's an inescapable viral meme that involves shouting those two numbers while shaking your hands up and down. It started with a drill rap track, exploded at youth basketball games, and eventually became a regular dinner request. You might also find this connected article insightful: Why The Dubai Property Market Is Defying The Doomsayers In 2026.
Now, it's the center of a brutal federal trademark lawsuit.
Perdue Foods recently sued John Soules Foods in a Virginia federal court. The fight isn't over secret recipes or poultry quality. It's about who owns the commercial rights to a viral internet joke stamped onto breaded chicken. It's a messy corporate battle that exposes exactly how modern food marketing works. As reported in detailed reports by CNBC, the results are widespread.
When Memes Dictate the Frozen Food Aisle
Food companies used to spend years developing products based on consumer focus groups and culinary trends. Now they just watch TikTok.
Perdue struck first. In April 2026, they rolled out their limited-edition 6-7 Chicken Nuggets. They splashed hand-drawn squiggles, cartoon hands, and doodle graphics across the packaging to mimic the online trend. It was a massive hit. Within weeks, the product was stocked in thousands of Walmart stores.
Then Texas-based John Soules Foods decided they wanted a piece of the action. They launched their own version under the Soules Kitchen line. To make matters worse for Perdue, Soules went out and hired Maverick Trevillian—the actual "67 Kid" who went viral at a basketball game—naming him their official "Head of Memes."
Perdue went nuclear. They filed a lawsuit alleging trademark infringement, trade dress infringement, and unfair competition.
The Myth of Viral Ownership
Most people assume that if you create a meme, you own it. You go viral, you do the dance, you say the catchphrase, and it belongs to you.
Trademark law doesn't care about your viral moment.
The legal reality here is harsh. Maverick Trevillian might have made the "six seven" gesture famous across social media, but he doesn't own the trademark. He created a moment, not a legal entity. Perdue is winning the legal race simply because they were the first ones to slap "6-7" onto a bag of chicken nuggets and sell it to the masses.
Why the Courts Don't Care Who is First to Go Viral
In the legal arena, priority of legitimate commercial use rules supreme. It doesn't matter that Perdue had nothing to do with the original meme. They built the commercial identity first.
- The Retail Freeze: Perdue's lawsuit claims a major national retailer already dropped their product specifically to stock the competing John Soules version instead.
- Consumer Confusion: The packaging looks so similar that parents are grabbing the wrong bag without realizing it.
- The Cease-and-Desist Ignored: Perdue sent a formal warning in early June. Soules basically told them to pound sand and announced their July rollout to Kroger and Aldi anyway.
This isn't just about a couple of numbers. It's about grocery shelf space. If a rival can copy your packaging design a month after you launch, your entire marketing investment evaporates.
The Next Steps for Food Brands
If you're running a consumer brand today, the playbook has fundamentally changed. You can't wait for traditional product pipelines anymore. Speed is everything, but legal protection must move just as fast.
First, lock up the commercial lane before you announce a product. If you spot a trend, file the intent-to-use trademark applications immediately.
Second, don't rely solely on the face of a trend. Soules thought hiring the viral kid would give them the ultimate leverage. Instead, they got hit with a lawsuit because they copied the visual trade dress that Perdue had already established in stores.
Stop focusing on who started the trend. Focus on who secures the shelf space first.
