What we learned from putting a ridiculous billboard on 101
blog.hipchat.com
blog.hipchat.com
I guess if you go this route you have to weigh the risks and rewards.
And I suspect the majority of Hot Topic customers do not know 4chan, hence it does not matter. On the internet it is very easy for a group of people to overestimate their impact.
But it's not new. It's always the same "We used/liked it before all the people that came after us" mentality. It applies to memes, it applies to bands, TV shows, clothes etc...
People just want to be insiders and distinguish themselves from the rest, sometimes desperately.
To that, I must add that using popular pictures in a commercial way is risky unless you know the guy who owns the copyright to the original, and despite what some people may be misled into thinking, it does apply to memes.
Another wondered why you'd use an 'obviously racist' meme to advertise your business. ... I still can't figure out how it's racist. I'm guessing some of the jokes were, and not he associates all use of the meme with those jokes.
But most importantly, you haven't successfully gone viral until someone's upset with your success. Congrats, Hipchat! :D
FWIW, I loved it. I hope I didn't come across as critical; I thought it was fantastic. (I lay as my only excuse a bad storm last night with a very nervous 10 year old keeping me to a mere pittance of sleep...)