Never underestimate the power of WOM and viral marketing.
Anyone unused to the wacky world of the Philippines' celebrity-studded political landscape might wonder how an alleged recording of the president, Gloria Arroyo, purportedly attempting to rig last year's presidential election has suddenly become Manila's most popular mobile phone ring tone.
The craziness hasn't stopped there. The "Hello! Hello! Garci" sound clip - which opposition politicians claim Ms Arroyo said at the start of a conversation with the electoral commissioner, Virgilio Garcillano, before asking him about her final vote total - has also been turned into a car horn and is being fitted to some of the traditional Philippine buses, called jeepneys.
According to CNN, in fact, the ringtone has become so popular....
A Web site offering a mobile phone ringtone featuring the words "Hello Garci" briefly crashed late last week as thousands of Filipinos clamored to download it.
CBS radio predicts that the now-unpopular President, who gained her position through a revolution, may now lose it as a result of a very different kind of revolution. The tone, which features highlights of the alleged conversation between the President and the election official, has set the discussion to a rap beat, complete with some choice sampling.
Pretty crazy. Who would have thought that a little Motorola flip (or a population of people carrying them) could potentially bring down an entire government?
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