It all started when a Senior Iranian cleric Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi, Tehran’s acting Friday prayer leader predicted why an earthquake would soon hit Iran
He said, “Many women who do not dress modestly … lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which (consequently) increases earthquakes.”
Not only in Iran but a lot of people in the rest of the world would believe this theory, since it was quoted by a Senior Iranian cleric.
Jen McCreight decided to test this claim scientifically and launch an event called Boobquake. She posted it on her blog, the post titled “In the name of Science, I offer my boobs”. The blog post said
Time for a Bookquake.
On Monday, April 26th, I will wear the most cleavage-showing shirt I own. Yes, the one usually reserved for a night on the town. I encourage other female skeptics to join me and embrace the supposed supernatural power of their breasts. Or short shorts, if that’s your preferred form of immodesty. With the power of our scandalous bodies combined, we should surely produce an earthquake. If not, I’m sure Sedighi can come up with a rational explanation for why the ground didn’t rumble. And if we really get through to him, maybe it’ll be one involving plate tectonics.
She created a Facebook event page and invited Facebook users to join the #boobquake event on 26 th April. At the time of writing this post the Facebook event page event has 1,89,066 confirmed guests
In a matter of a few hours the facebook event page and post went viral, in the last few days Jen has been interviewed by media channel across the global ( CNN, BBC Canada, Times of India and other media ), users in support of #boobquake uploaded songs on YouTube , and expressed their views
Happy Boobquake Day 2010
Today is 26 th April – Happy Boobquake Day 2010 and after the event Jen will be appearing on FOX news and CNN’s “Situation Room”. Her Twitter account has already seen a huge increase in followers Tweeting about #Boobquake
What made Boobquake go viral ?
1) Pigged backed an event on a controversial topic :
Jen picked up a controversial quote by a Senior Cleric and decided to post her views, she obviously did not know it would go viral. Controversy always help in making news and building hype for an event.
2 ) Memorable event and brilliant branding :
Boobquake is a brilliant title, its easy to remember and easy to tweet. It brings an overall curiosity and fun element to the subject. The event has an awesome connect with the controversial speech.
Some of the questions that raise curiosity about the title and event are What is boobquake ? Is it a new boob enhancer ? Is it about feminism ? Can only women with big boobs take part in the event ?
The curiosity of the title and event led users to join the Facebook events page and follow her Twitter account. This meant more publicity for bookquake and more interviews for Jen.
3 ) Perfect timing :
Jen planned this event perfectly, it was not rebellious or against any religion. It was to fight the supernatural thinking and oppression of women. The first post was up as soon as she heard about the speech, she gave it a week to hold the Boobquake event giving herself and the event enough time to generate publicity and curiosity.
4 ) Connecting with the youth :
I am not sure if boobquake started by a women in her 40’s or 50’s would have been successful. Jen is a college student in her 20’s and connected perfectly with the youth to signify boobquake. It also help get the right media attention.
Do you think a 40 year old women would have carried this off well ?
5 ) It’s all about boobs
Well, at the end of the day its all about boobs and Jen has proved it they get a lot of attention whether for a real event or a virtual event.
What else do you think made Boobquake go viral ? How far will Boobquake go, will it be an annual event ?
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