By Makenna Robison, Assistant Design Editor
Who is Alex from Target? Do you follow him on Twitter? Does he follow you? Saegertown junior Emily Johnson received a new Twitter follower on November 6 during the evening, and to her surprise it was Alex from Target! She says she retweeted two of Alex’s tweets, and minutes later, he followed her. Weird! Nobody knew of 16-year-old Alex Laboeuf on November 1, but by November 2, he had practically become famous with his own trending hashtag: #AlexFromTarget to prove it.
Everything started when a young girl, distracted by Alex’s good looks, took his picture as he was bagging her groceries in Texas. This picture was posted on Twitter and, for unexplainable reasons, it went viral on the internet. Alex claims to have no real talent such as singing, dancing, or acting. During his interview with Ellen DeGeneres, when asked if he had any other skills, he said, “Well, I mean apparently I can bag groceries pretty well.” The marketing firm, Breakr, tried to take credit for the rise of Alex, but everyone who has been asked about this company has denied ever hearing of it.
We know who Alex is here at Saegertown, but what do we think of him? Freshman Scout VanCise said, “I thought he looked cute based on the picture that was posted on Twitter, but after seeing other pictures of him later on, I didn’t think he was worth all the fuss!”
Though Alex has many new admirers, and nearly a million new Twitter followers, he has also experienced much negativity including death threats online. Alex has appeared on “Ellen” and been interviewed by many news outlets around the world. Modeling, movie, and television agents want to meet with Alex, and he has been offered sponsorships and advertising deals. Alex says he plans on doing what he has always done, getting up early for school, spending time with his friends and girlfriend, and working at Target, but will his fame last? Is it really that easy to become famous?
This is not the first time something like this has happened, and it certainly won’t be the last. Texas is surely larger than Saegertown, but is it possible that something like this could happen in our little town? Saegertown junior Nick Monico wanted to find out. He posted a picture of senior Emily Callan with the hashtag #EmilyFromSubway while she was working an evening shift at our local Subway on November 8 as a joking reference to #AlexFromTarget. Of course it didn’t receive thousands of favorites and retweets, but fourteen retweets and thirty-five favorites isn’t too bad!