By HaeMee Lee Editor-in-Chief
Chances are you’ve already heard of Alex from Target. Twitter feeds and news reports are thoroughly covering the topic of this mysterious boy known as Alex from Target. No, this is not Target’s attempt at a marketing strategy, though it could be one.
Alex Laboeuf is a 16-year-old Target employee in Texas who became an Internet celebrity within a day, all because a stranger, 15-year-old Brooklyn Reiff, tweeted a picture of him bagging groceries. Has he stolen the hearts of thousands of girls because of his resemblance to Justin Bieber?
How did an average teenage boy gain over half a million Twitter followers and become a guest on the Ellen DeGeneres show? Did we ever realize how powerful the Internet could be?
The Internet has produced instant celebrities like Laboeuf before through viral videos, however, this is a first through Twitter. Once in a while, Youtube will have “one-hit wonders,” or people who gain ephemeral fame from millions of views on one and only one video. Laboeuf’s fame will last how long?
Social media is filled with Alex from Target craze, but please, let’s stop obsessing over a teenager who can bag groceries at Target and return to obsessing over Kim Kardashian or another celebrity whose fame is questionable.