If This Isn't Viral, I Don't Know What Is…

I got this from a good pal (who is also a fantastic marketing expert) in the Philippines just today. I subscribe to her blog using Feedblitz and I got her blog post which talked about David Poarch.
David is Fil-Am (that means kacukan lah, American and Filipino) but what’s so fantastic about this David? (Besides the fact that he’s terribly cute. With those looks, he could probably melt a couple of thousand hearts along the way…if he’s not gay.)

In her blog, she said to go take a look at David’s videos on YouTube. Heck, everyone’s videos is on YouTube these days. (Speaking of YouTube, I digress a bit but there’s this awfully hilarious spoof of David Blaine there. If you’re like me, a semi-fan of David “Smouldering Looks” Blaine, the street magician cum mad man, you will roll on the floor with splitting sides once you see that spoof. Or spoofs, if you have the time to sit through them all. This spoof thing is rather viral.)
Anyway, back to this Fil-Am David. Sunny says that while most Filipinos dream of living the American dream, this triple degree American uni graduate who is Mensa certified and used to intern at NASA (and who lived in Texas for a good part of his life) gave up everything to go back to the boondocks in the Philippines to raise chickens in some village!
David calls himself the Coconuter. He’s somewhat of a celeb in Filipino, and what you see on YouTube is maybe an excerpt of some show where he is interviewed and asked why he chose to give up the good life and come back to the hinterlands to do the stuff many of his countrymen wished they didn’t do. Oh David says he needs to find himself – he is the “modern nomad in 3rd world Philippines in search of purpose and meaning of life”.
While it’s not absolutely crazy to leave modern world (because the modern world can be an unjust mistress), I am suspecting that there’s an experiment somewhere. Skeptical old me thinks he’s probably the poster boy for Filipino Boleh (like our Malaysia Boleh campaign).
He’s young, he’s cute, he’s smart and he’s raising chickens and lives in some shack in a village. Something odd and inconsistent with this picture here; most people would scratch their heads to try and figure out why anyone would dump it all and go back to their roots.
David blogs and you can catch episodes of his life as he writes about stuff while living in his shack at http://www.coconuter.blogspot.com/
He’s not totally stupid either (his Mensa genes probably account for something) because you can also donate to him (this is REAL reality TV!) or buy his Cafepress t-shirt. And you can support him too if you click on his Google Ads liberally sprinkled on his blog. David’s videos are also on YouTube. If this isn’t viral, what is?
This is the perfect example of something good and viral going on. David raises frightening questions – is he nuts? is he for real? is he an actor? is he really looking for meaning in life by going back to his roots, albeit in a stark and sparse way? what’s the objective of roughing it out when he could have it all back in the States? is he an experiment? is he experimenting on himself?
People pass on his videos and blog about him because there’s something odd here and that needs figuring out. It’s both inspiring and frightening. What if modern life really made this 22 year old realise he needed something more?
I am half-inspired, half-skeptical. Who knows what goes on in people’s grey matter these days? Are people really FOR REAL? Could David be some real life social study experiment to gauge how we modern folks feel about such a blatant act of throwing away the life we are living?
OK, let me stop pontificating. It’s too much thinking anyway. But the videos are in Tagalog anyway (unless you understand it, it won’t make much sense except that David’s real eye candy). Go read his blog then and see if you agree if this is viral marketing at its best.
Would I leave my creature comforts and do what he is doing? I am not sure you know. I am a pampered person, that much I agree. I always think that if I were transported back to the turn of the century I’d really die because there’s so many necessities I wouldn’t have!
That’s why David’s courageous in his own way. It could be his little adventure of a lifetime.
Here’s David’s video. By the way, his video raked up 17,094 views! (Watch Part 2 too. You get to see his love interest….)

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