Did a Startup Create the 'Alex From Target' Buzz, or Is Its Claim the Real Hoax?

Internet truth is a slippery thing

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Alex is real. Target is real. But that's where the reality ends and the social marketing skepticism begins.

An influencer network called Breakr claimed today that, without any official involvement from Target, it created Monday's #AlexFromTarget global meme. The startup says it asked one of its teen partners in Kensington, U.K., to post the photo of a real Texas Target employee named Alex Lee, then it amplified the post into a surreal bit of Warholian overnight stardom. 

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