#CREATE: From Bagging Groceries to Talk Show Appearances, How Social Media is to Thank
When an average day, working your after-school shift at Target bagging groceries and cashing people out turns viral- it becomes a day that inevitably marks history in just how successful the social media industry can be. Alex, a high school boy at the time, working part-time to make some extra cash woke up one Sunday morning with nothing out of the ordinary, attended church and arrived at Eldorado Parkway’s SuperTarget where he worked. Behind the power of a Justin Bieber “Flow” and a crazed teenage girl, Alex soon became the face behind the on-going meme #AlexFromTarget… despite his discretion.
In a matter of hours, a photo taken of Alex bagging groceries became an online trending hit on twitter where his claim to fame grew over 100,000 followers and counting in under 4 hours. “Am I famous now?” Alex writes after unbelievably noticing what has happened to his online name. The viral sensation given to Alex landed him an interview on Ellen a few weeks after, paparazzi filing at the airport awaiting his arrival and a 6-month tour to commence in the latter year. Good Morning America, CNN, other news casts, and rumour reports like TMZ all attempted to take a stab at Alex to understand what It’s like being your everyday run-of-the-mill teenager turned celebrity sensation.
Like that, the internet has spoken. The impact social media users alone have on society is inevitable. With a quick click of a button, we are at the disposal of skyrocketing someone’s career and livelihood despite their initial beliefs. Alex, by no means, is hard on the eyes to many young teenage girls. The uncanny resemblance to Justin Bieber in his music video, Baby, and his soft spoken/ sweet demeanor aided in his rise to stardom among the obsession of 13-year-old girls. His “X-Factor” was his looks which he capitalized on and created a career out of. Between attending a 10-city lineup tour alongside other internet sensations for no talent but their looks (to put it frank), a YouTube channel airing his music video (Yes, he took up singing in the meantime), and a VIP meet and greet with fans, Alex learned quickly on how to capitalize on his 15-minutes of fame.
Yet 2 years later, the verified star garnering more than 1.5 million followers on the visual based platform of Instagram, is losing the obsessive tendencies of the teenage girls who run the internet and proves to only show less than 5% of follower engagement on the content he posts. With an average of 7,000 likes and under 500 comments to his 1.5 million follower range, Alex from target is slowly losing his credible fame on what put him in this place (his appearance) and is focused more on verbal contact. His twitter engagement has remained steady, likely due to his genuine nature and understanding to the ‘mean of the world’ adding that he was once bullied.
Still receiving paid endorsements online, Alex has challenged the thought of pathways to social media stardom who garnered fame online off no talent but good genetics. These teen sensations are argued to last only the few months they are so heavily involved in within the media, leading to their normal lives soon after. Alex proves the social acceptance social media brings users albeit not always garnering what got him there in the first place. People flock to those they can relate to, and Alex unlike many other teen sensations, ultimately grew by keeping his head on his shoulders.
