# @chrisyandle on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DaoKVEzS_2X
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/67671286-chrisyandle-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/5432bb019d.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-07-10T21:31:19.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Chris Yandle, Ph.D. (@ChrisYandle) — https://gondola.cc/ChrisYandle

## Caption

In a world divided, Neil the Seal continues to bring us back together.

Neil, a 2,000-pound elephant seal, now has a social following bigger than Tasmania’s population. He also lays down in the middle streets, breaks things, and has an emotional support traffic cone (I might need one of these).

Believe it or not, but Neil can teach us some PR lessons - funny and serious at the same time:

➡️ Virality doesn’t wait for your plan. The traffic cones meant to protect him became his favorite toy. Your safety measure just became the content.

➡️ “Bad behavior” is often just the truth, unmanaged. He’s a juvenile male with nothing to practice dominance on but Toyotas, Suburus, fences, and anything in his way. Sometimes the “PR problem” is just the organization or brand being itself, unchecked.

➡️ The audience writes your narrative whether you’re ready or not. Some people call him an anti-authoritarian hero. He’s an elephant seal shedding his coat and napping on cars. Also, we doesn’t own a smartphone or opposable thumbs, so he can’t manage his social media presence.

➡️ Loving something to death is still a loss. Officials had to ask fans to back off. Engagement (and recording Neil is natural? habitat) is not the same as caring for marine life.

Neil didn’t ask to be an influencer. But it’s our job to ensure nothing harms him. Social media ego and all.

#neiltheseal

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 9
- **Shares:** 0
- **Comments:** 1

## Tags

neiltheseal

---
Copyright (c) Gondola