Elon Musk's Twitter trolling of McDonald's and Coca-Cola is a warning for brands

Elon Musk is about to own Twitter, so it is only fitting to see how brands are reacting on the platform. And since the deal was announced Monday, a number of brands already have been pulled into Musk’s orbit through tweets.

Coca-Cola, perhaps, got the most attention, after Musk tweeted he would buy the brand next and put cocaine in its formula. (Coca-Cola used to contain the coca leaf, it did not include cocaine.) Later, Musk responded to a tweet about McDonald’s infamous ice cream machines, saying he “can’t do miracles,” when asked to fix those. Meanwhile, brands known for their playful Twitter profiles, like Wendy’s and Steak-umm, had some fun tweeting about Musk’s $44 billion takeover of the service.

Coca-Cola was not available for comment on what it made of Musk’s “cocaine” tweet. It's possible that a tweet by Coca-Cola on Tuesday drew Musk's attention to the brand, even if unintentionally. Coca-Cola said "to the moon" in a tweet about its new Starlight flavor, a meme reference that is very popular among Musk fans, who then flooded Coca-Cola's mentions. Musk then entered the chat with three tweets about Coca-Cola, two in which he directly tagged the brand.

The banter is a sign that no matter what comes of Twitter, brands will have to be on their toes. Musk is set to shakeup the service with consequences for how advertisers approach the platform. Twitter makes most of its money from ads: $1.1 billion in the first-quarter this year.

Brands are worried Musk’s edgy sensibilities could diminish the brand-safety work that has gone into making the platform more friendly to advertising. In fact, this week Twitter’s current leaders wrote advertising agencies to reassure them that the platform would remain a safe place, where their content won’t run alongside objectionable posts, according to the Financial Times.

Here are the first hints of what it will be like going forward for brands on a Musk-owned Twitter: