In the past two weeks or so, I’ve received about a dozen different links and/or emails to various stories about how the McRib is made of old gym mats or tennis shoes (or something like that) and about how the pigs used to make the McRib are tortured with waterboarding and stuff.
In the past week, I’d say I’ve received at least half a dozen links and/or emails regarding the demise of Zooey Deschanel’s marriage to Death Cab for Cutie frontman, Ben Gibbard.
This isn’t the first time things like this have happened.
When the McRib rolled out last fall—the first nationwide distribution of the McRib since 1994—I’d say more than 20 different people sent me links and/or emails letting me know that the McDonald’s Embargo was about to die.
When the ridiculous Bacon Explosion was released upon the world in January of 2009, I was bombarded with links and emails asking me if I’d tried it, when I was going to try it and/or if I’d already died from trying it.
In the summer of 2008, numerous people hit me up with info regarding the demise of Jennifer Aniston and *shudder* John Mayer’s relationship. Granted, this one yo-yo’d for the better part of another year and a half or so before they finally called it quits for good.
All of this has got me thinking that I’ve clearly established a sort of reverse “personal brand” for myself over the years.
For anyone not familiar with the concept, your personal brand is, essentially, what other people think about you when they hear your name. There are a butt-load of books on the topic and it’s more or less the end-all, be-all of trying to survive in the internet era as everyone wants to build a personal brand to help themselves “stand-out” from the other eighty-bajillionty people on the interwebs.
In my case, it seems to be a bit of a reverse, wherein people read about Zooey Deschanel or McRibs or Zombies and they think of me and immediately go “I’ve gotta tell, Graves!!”
I suppose, one could look at me and their first thought—after “he should stop slouching and stand up straight—could very well be “this dude likes Jennifer Aniston and cheeseburgers.”
Granted, I think it’s safer to say that I’ve got more of a reverse personal branding thing going.
…with that in mind, I’ve decided to take a look at some of the things that have been deemed as part of my reverse personal brand.
Foodstuffs
Hotties
Other
That’s just a brief rundown acquired from a brief online poll with two of my favorite internetters, Ms. Margaret “Walla-Walla” Willison and Ms. Brittney Paige Hansen (note: don’t stalk either of these ladies or I’ll feel really bad about mentioning them…also because stalking is weird…don’t be weird).
I’d like to see what else fits into the “OMG, I’ve gotta tell Graves about this!” category. So have at it, My Faithful Readers…hit it up in the comments section or send me a shout-out on the Tweeters and let me know what should be added to this list.
I had never associated you with kittens before, but now that I know that I can send you this! Sorry if everyone in the world already knows about this but me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP4NMoJcFd4
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By: Darcy on November 7, 2011
at 2:18 pm
This may be the most accurate thing you’ve ever written. This is funny. I like this. #thingsthatmakemethinkofjeremiah
Wrestling. Trampolines. Case races.
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By: I Only Wore Spandex Today on November 7, 2011
at 2:27 pm
Whenever I see vomit on the sidewalk, I think of you.
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By: Amy M. on November 7, 2011
at 3:19 pm
That makes good sense.
Now if you could look into reversing the curse you’ve put upon me, that’d be freakin’ great!!
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By: Jeremiah Graves on November 7, 2011
at 3:51 pm
Carrot top is so scary looking these days.
And calling bacon “meat-candy”? I hope you don’t mind if I steal that phrase!
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By: MegansBeadedDesigns on November 7, 2011
at 3:57 pm
Have at it, I can’t imagine a more accurate description for that Salty-Sweet Treat.
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By: Jeremiah Graves on November 7, 2011
at 3:59 pm
Chuck Norris. Also a redhead…
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By: TPN on November 8, 2011
at 3:00 am
I love this! And I have to say, I was looking through your categories and I saw “Jennifer Aniston” and I thought “this guy must write about Jennifer Aniston a lot if she has her own category.” Then I click and realize that the McRib gets a lot of mention around, too. And what’d’ya know? It has it’s own category, too… So, is Jennifer Aniston the McRib of movie stars?? 🙂
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By: Bethylicious on January 9, 2012
at 9:04 pm
She is definitely the McRib of movie stars!
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By: Jeremiah Graves on January 9, 2012
at 9:33 pm
Oh and what happened to Carrot Top? He looks like a cross-dressing, body-building dwarf in that picture. Just sayin’.
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By: Bethylicious on January 9, 2012
at 9:04 pm
I know, he somehow managed to get even more freaky looking with age. I actually used his picture taped around a soda can to win an “ugly ornament” contest at Christmas party at work.
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By: Jeremiah Graves on January 9, 2012
at 9:34 pm
Please for the love of all that is holy, tell me you have a picture of that?! People mention insanely ugly things and I get morbidly curious…
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By: Bethylicious on January 10, 2012
at 12:11 am
I never took a photo of it…because, well, gross…but it might still be lurking around the office somewhere. Assuming no one tried to kill it with fire. I’ll see if I can dig it up.
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By: Jeremiah Graves on January 10, 2012
at 10:12 am
[…] to this amazing discovery on Facebook, Twitter, email, text, and IM. You’ve all proven my reverse personal branding theory to be 100% accurate. Plus, I greatly appreciate having this many bacon-sniffing bloodhounds on the […]
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By: Burger King Embargo: The End is Nigh « Blank Stares and Blank Pages on April 14, 2012
at 10:26 am
[…] roughly 37,000 posts, tweets, emails, texts, etc. in regard to the Bacon Explosion because—as I’ve mentioned before—lots of people associate me with […]
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By: Buy Me Things « Blank Stares and Blank Pages on June 9, 2012
at 1:47 pm
[…] is often the case when something of this nature hits the interwebs, I had roughly two dozen people hook me up with links announcing the nationwide […]
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By: Crowdsourcing: The Burger King Embargo « Blank Stares and Blank Pages on June 16, 2012
at 8:27 pm