Too busy actually living life during these last weeks of summer? I don’t blame you, but here’s what you missed.
Generally the Miss America pageant wouldn’t be the first thing you search on Google, even if you knew it was happening. But this week is different, Nina Davuluri the 24-year-old Miss New York is the first contestant of Indian heritage to become Miss America; her talent routine was a Bollywood fusion dance. I personally am not a beauty pageant fan or follower, but I’d be lying if I said my Twitter & Facebook feeds were not plastered with links regarding the historic event (and I’m Canadian!). Nevertheless, this was the number search on Google with well over 1,000,000 queries within the first few hours. When asked about being the first Indian Miss America, Nina had this to say;
“I’m so happy this organization has embraced diversity, I’m thankful there are children watching at home who can finally relate to a new Miss America.”
Peyton Manning got the better of his brother Eli on Sunday as the Broncos topped the Giants 41-23. But this isn’t a sports blog, and I’m not a football fan (we play hockey up here). To keep it short and sweet, the amount of publicity between being the number two and three search terms on Google (almost half a million), countless Tweets, Retweets, Blog Posts, News Articles, Facebook Posts, Memes, Reddit entries is almost immeasurable. I bet both teams sold a few extra jersey’s this weekend.
Ozymandias, if that term isn’t familiar then chances are you’re not watching what many consider to be the best show on TV, Breaking Bad. I can’t even fathom how many times the #BreakingBad hashtag was used last night. Number four search term on Google (over 250,000) and the episode isn’t even 12 hours old, that’s impressive. But AMC doesn’t need any help promoting their blockbuster series, the quality speaks for itself, not to mention the episode itself left fans of the series’ jaws on the floor for the entire hour.
When I connect the dots here I see three things that have nothing to do with one another (aside from all being broadcast on television), sports, a TV series and a beauty pageant. But there is one underlying similarity, they all provoked emotion. Competition, controversy and shock value are all things our society longs for and these three events provided. To put it simply, they gave us what we wanted and it worked. Are you giving your fans what they want?
