Viral

Comments, blunders and gaffes and advertisements easily spread like virus online.

Take my namesake Pope's statement for example. His comment on the use of condoms to prevent venereal diseases has been a polarizing subject for the online community. On the one hand, conservatives point out that while the Pope recognizes the benefit of condoms for health reasons, it does not necessarily mean that the use of contraceptives as an artifical method for birth control is acceptable. In addition, they also say that the Pope issued the statement in his personal capacity during an interview and is not the official stand of the church.

On the other hand, there are those who argue that the statement should not be construed to be limited in application; that condoms can be used by spouses and not only by male prostitutes. Otherwise, the statement could be interpreted as one promoting recreational sex and male prostitution.

I guess this is one viral outbreak that cannot be prevented by a condom.

xxx

Another recent outbreak manifested itself as the craving for bacon and cheese sandwiched by chicken: the KFC Double Down. A lot of my contacts on facebook made reference to the elusive burger last weekend. People were ranting on how many KFC branches they had to visit before they were finally able to taste the new product, while others were posting on how disappointed or satisfied they were once they were able to get a bite of it.

How easily did I fall prey to the viral marketing. All the online hype created for the burger piqued my curiosity and left me wondering how it would fare against expectations. The hype and the fact that each branch has very limited stock to make the product, which is usually sold-out already as early as 12:00NN, leave customers wanting to return to the fastfood chain just to try it out in case they were unfortunate enough to get to KFC a little too late.

It took me 4 trips to KFC until I finally got to try the burger. It was so-so. At least I satisfied my craving. I was cured. Hours later, I found out that KFC posted an almost full-page advertisement on Inquirer, this was last last 2010 November 23, apologizing and explaining that they're trying their best to make the burger available all the time.

Indeed, nice one, KFC. Nice one.

Evangelista, Emmanuel Benedict C., Blog #2