The most asked question among Facebook fans this past month was “Can this pickle get more fans than Nickleback?” Seemingly odd question at first, but those participating in this ‘inside’ joke can quickly find the humor. On February 3rd, 2010, a Facebook user named Coral Anne created the Facebook fan page “Can this pickle get more fans than Nickleback?” as a joke. The joke being that more people would choose a pickle over the band Nickelback. For those of you unfamiliar with the band, Nickelback is a Canadian group of 3 that sings rock/pop songs. The band, while ridiculed among other musicians and music fans, still retains a large fan base. On Facebook, the band currently has 1,434,193 fans. So for Coral Anne to set out to find 1,434,193 plus people to choose a pickle over the band Nickelback, seems like quite a feat. However, on February 19th, 2010, only a little over two weeks of creating the page, the pickle won!
Within a matter of days, the pickle phenomenon launched into overdrive. You can now find pickle videos on Youtube, buy pickle fan t-shirts, and find pickle fans all over the world. Today the fan page has 1,533,368 fans, nearly 100 more than the band! How did she do it, you might ask? Well below is an excerpt from the fan page written by the founder herself:
1. This is all strictly intended for humour and nothing more or less. I am not using this page to endorse any hate towards the band Nickelback. I respect Nickelback and do not hate them. I am not behind any negative or hateful content that others post on this page as Facebook pages are designed to be public and I, the page's creator, have posted nothing of the sort myself. I do not wish Nickelback or any other bands any ill will and hope they would see the same humour in making this page as I have.
2. I have had no correspondence with Chad Kroeger or anyone affiliated with Nickelback. Anyone who says so is just spreading rumours and/or are mistaken by pictures that were posted on the site of someone with what was likely a fake account. Nickelback have not done anything wrong in lieu of the making of this page and if anyone out there says that they have, it is not true.
3. I am fully aware that I misspelled Nickelback as "Nickleback" in the name of the page. This is because Facebook doesn't allow you to put the word Nickelback in the name of a page because I guess if someone did it would be copyright infringement.
4. Yes, this page was inspired by "Can this onion ring get more fans than Justin Bieber?" before anyone tells me that I copied the guy who made that. I know I have but I thought his idea was so hilarious that I just had to do something in its likeness. So I was inspired, more or less!
In the description, Coral Anne admits to copying a fellow Facebook users idea for the page and purposely misspelling the band’s name in the title of the page in order to avoid copyright issues. However, as she claims, it is all for humor! Personally, I love the fact that a Facebook user can bring together a million and a half people who prefer a pickle to a well-known band. I also find humor in the Facebook group, as it is easy to put Nickelback at the butt of many music-based jokes.
Once again, the power of social media at it’s finest! One thing I do wonder is how the band plans to respond to the group. Do you think it is negative for their public image to lose in a Facebook battle to a pickle? If you were in their position, what would you do?
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