‘Alex From Target’ Becomes Internet Sensation, But Who Is He?

Those wondering just who “Alex from Target” is have a lot of company. One simple picture posted on Twitter has gone viral and one teenage Target employee is right at the center of it. Luckily from the looks of things, he’s taking the new fame in stride.

As CNN notes, #AlexfromTarget became a trending topic on Twitter and this teen is now the Target employee seen ’round the world. It all started with Twitter user @auscalum posting a picture of Alex from Target with the simple note “YOOOOOOOOOO.” Sometimes, that’s all it takes when it comes to Twitter. Soon that photo went viral and an all new meme was born.

Somehow, that initial photo of Alex from Target started getting shared, shared and shared some more. Though the original poster got rather wound up and defensive about being in the middle of this one, Twitter did its thing and that thing was to make Alex go viral. One simple Sunday he’s ringing up purchases and the next thing he knows, the world is clamoring to know who he is.

While it took a few hours, the real Alex from Target did his sudden fan base a favor and stepped up to the Twitter plate to reveal his identity, in a way. Twitter user @DGM_Alex tweeted “Am I famous now?” about six hours after the initial photo was posted. This, indeed, seems to be the real and legitimate “Alex from Target.” His post was retweeted nearly 30,000 times and favorited about 58,000 times.

In the matter of a few hours, Alex’s Twitter followers exploded to more than 300,000 people and his follow-up tweets seem to indicate he was blown away but a bit amused by his sudden Internet fame. He tweeted that there were already fake accounts of him, that he had to change his number and that everybody was amazing. He even changed his profile to reflect that he is the “Official Alex from target.”

So just who is Alex from Target? Luckily for him, his Twitter profile doesn’t reveal much in the way of identifying information. There are some indications via his profile picture and those he’s friends with that he may be in Texas, and surely the Internet or the media will reveal more as the meme continues to explode.

During the hours that the actual Alex from Target was in the dark, and probably still ringing up customer’s purchases, the Internet went wild with fan fiction, comparison tweets and new versions of photos and tweets both idolizing, all in good fun, and embracing the teen’s sudden rise to fame. As BuzzFeed shares, Alex was Photoshopped onto a Target Christmas advertisement, a “Steal This Look” post was formulated things simply got wild.

While there have been some extremely ugly Twitter memes over the past year, such as the #JadaPose craze a while back, this “Alex from Target” sensation was all in good fun and a simple post that took on a life of its own. Will Target take advantage of this sudden, good-natured attention to make the most of the fun heading into the all-important holiday season? Perhaps potential shoppers should brace themselves for an Alex from Target holiday shopping campaign.

[Image via Twitter user @auscalum]