Brandjack News

Dr Robin Croft, University of Bedfordshire

Dr Nigel Williams, Bournemouth University

Russell Brand's new book Revolution was published by Cornerstone on 23 October.  The book was already in the bestseller charts before it appeared in the stores due to advance purchases.  Brand's publishers and PR agency arranged the usual round of TV and radio appearances, as well as widespread press coverage and reviews. 

Things started to go wrong on about the 26^th.  Twitter user @paperclipracket made the connection between Brand's prose (based on a Daily Mail review of Revolution) and Parklife, a 1994 Britpop song from Blur.  The idea took hold, but the #parklife hashtag only really became a meme on 3 November when it was discovered by internet marketer @danbarker. 

As we have noted in a blog posting last week, #parklife then became the virtual interjection of choice for a generation for whom the greatest crime is to take oneself too seriously.  The controversy served to keep Revolution in the news (and in the book charts), but why was Brand piqued by it, and why was it regarded as being insulting?

The original connection, we believe, was made based on the similarities between the Essex-boy accents being used by Blur and Brand, and the tendency to rant incoherently.  #Parklife became a catchy, catch-all insult that could be creatively applied to anything remotely pompous or verbose.  As the meme 'trended' the videos and mashups appeared, went viral and kept #parklife current.

Brand and his publicity team, of course, were well aware of how to ride the meme, and his own Twitter feed quickly started employing the hashtag also.  Today (November 10) he has released his own Parklife video, a parody which parodies the parodies.  Russell can take a joke.  Business as usual.