Why Melania Trump's jacket went viral so quickly on Thursday
LOS ANGELES, CA (FOX 11) - After a photo surfaced showing Melania Trump wearing a controversial jacket on her way to visiting the border on Thursday, a social media expert tells FOX 11 it had been seen by more than 100 million people in just a matter of hours!
The photo showed Mrs. Trump wearing a $40 Zara jacket that said "I really don't care, do u?" as she prepared to board a flight to the border.
"This afternoon, Mrs. Trump stepped out of an SUV wearing this jacket, and within a few minutes, it was the hottest topic on social," said Daniel Anstandig, CEO of Futuri Media.
Futuri has a parternship with FOX 11, and operates a program called Topic Pulse. It scans millions of Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter posts every hour to track what audiences are interested in, and on Thursday, their data showed everyone was talking about Mrs. Trump's jacket.
"Over 100 million people saw the image of her wearing the jacket on social, and hundreds of millions of people by the end of the day will see this image," Anstandig said. "Melania Trump is almost always a social celebrity, what she says or doesn't say will often trend on social."
Anstandig said Los Angeles was the first major market the photo started going viral in, likely due to its large Hispanic population, and Melania Trump's visit being to the border.
"Interestingly enough this topic first started to trend with men ages 35-54, so presumably not the audience you would think is interested because of the fashion angle, through the day we've seen younger audiences engaging, and it's clear Mrs. Trump knows how to get a reaction," he said.
The jacket inspired memes to counter the jacket's message, and even led a Chicago woman to create a website called "Ireallydocare.com", it's now raising money for immigrant children, and has since gone viral itself.
"This is definitely one of the more interesting stories that we've seen about a first lady," Anstandig said.
Anstandig believes the photo went viral so quickly because Melania Trump hasn't been in the public eye much, and hasn't made many public statements.
Zara is the retailer that made the jacket, they have a location in Santa Monica's 3rd Street Promenade.
They declined comment to FOX 11.