The Miracle

This is the miracle. Look closely at it. It happened on March 28, 1992:



"What was interesting wasn’t the commercial itself, but the call to action at the end. Where most commercials insert a logo and URL in the last frame, Vitamin Water included a link to their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/vitaminwater. I’m no expert on TV commercials, but this is not a strategy I recall seeing before and it caught my attention... Advertising the Facebook page will catch the attention of people like me by jarring us out of our slumber by doing something unexpected. It is new and different. In addition, unlike Vitamin Water’s regular site the Facebook page actually gives me something to do - I can become a fan and connect/interact with other Vitamin Water lovers. By becoming a fan, I am essentially endorsing Vitamin Water to my network on Facebook, who will find out about my new relationship with Vitamin Water via their Facebook news feed. I’m telling the world that I think enough of Vitamin Water to associate my brand (meaning my Facebook persona) with theirs."

Todd Zeigler was formerly an intern in the press office of Senator Fred Thompson. He is currently vice-president of The Bivings Group and writer for the Bivings Report. "The Bivings Group’s sole focus," as their website (bivings.com) states, "is on helping our clients use technology to converse and communicate with the audiences that matter to them. In everything it does, The Bivings Group believes the power of the Internet lies not in the technology, but in it its strategic use." Zeigler believes that Vitamin Water's use of Facebook in their commercial is: (1) a call to action; (2) something to jar us out of our slumber; (3) a way to connect and interact with other "lovers"; (4) a way to be a fan; (5) an opportunity to make an endorsement; (6) an invitation to tell the world; and (7) a reaffirmation of one's brand, and thus, one's self.

Perhaps Vitamin Water has not only relived the miracle, perhaps it has transformed it. Now the miracle doesn't merely make us smile, cry, or scream. The miracle now becomes a "call to action!" and "something to jar us out of our slumber!" Christian's shot becomes the first act in our potential relationship with this miracle. We, the believer, can now interact with the Vitamin Water bottle which - as pictured on the Facebook page - is conflated as both equal to the basketball itself and the player (who one could imagine pictured in the foreground of promotional picture with the b-ball behind.) In this way, the bottle is both the actor and reification of the miracle. We, the believer, are now able to take part in this holy experience. There is hope for us yet.

Through Facebook we join an community in celebration. Much like we become fans of athletes or teams or sports, Vitamin Water collects our adoration. Through an invitation, the believer is allowed to praise his idol as well as connect with other believers. Rather than sitting on one's couch doing nothing, one sits on one's couch actively - the believer becomes responsible for his cause, his belief, his Vitamin Water. Through this network of action, Vitamin Water becomes even more powerful, but so do we. Our miracle (the one we have shared) becomes legitimized through this collective action. I have created a graph to show exactly how this process unfolds:


While there can be only one in the end, our messianic urge is fulfilled. While we cannot be the object we so desire, it could not exist without us. We remain a member of the bracket or network. We do not disappear once the end is reached. Through our action, we are forever a part of the experience.

The messianic figure of the present, our President Barack Obama, makes sure to remind us of our importance each day. As the living miracle, it is his duty. He has set up a network-based website, similar to Facebook, that allows us, the believer, to speak to our government each day. We cannot know who above reads our words, but the fellow believers (the ones left behind) are sure to. In Obama's victory, the world finds new ways to grapple with the miracle - this time in the sport of politics. But it is Obama's genuine love for the sport of basketball (a love that started in Hawaii with) that brings us back to the miracle - to the moment (as CNN so daringly calls it).



In taking part of the bracket system, Obama is both submitting himself and submitting the game to a greater power. By making his "picks," Obama is becoming a believer - just another fan waiting for the miracle. But filling out the bracket (much like filling in a blank space on Facebook) also allows the fan (in this case Obama) to take part and be responsible for the potential miracle. The recent craze for fantasy sports attests to this fact. The believer is no longer content to merely watch the miracle pass by. He must, in some way, take part in it, and so, know better than it. But while the believer plays the omniscient "maker" of the bracket, he is also subject to it. Its weight - both a collective (through the network) and singular (through the miracle at its end) - is an oppressive freedom, religious almost. The believer watches the game knowing that he knows best, but that everyone else does too.

The transformation the miracle has undergone has been from "beyond man" to "of man." The believer has, in a sense, learned to create his miracle.

melika08 writes on caloriecount.com: "So I was at the grocery store today and I saw a huge display of vitamin water. Usually, I don't pay attention because I try to stay away from beverages. It's just extra calories that I'd rather eat! But then I realized these were different! They are sweetened with Stevia extract thats all natural. I really like vitamin water lemonade flavor so that's the one I tried! It's reallly yummy and honestly it tastes exactly the same! Ahh I'm happy!!! Don't get me wrong I love water, but this is a nice change."

It seems that the miracle that fills us and replenishes us - water - has been transformed. Today Vitamin Water fills our shelves, our bodies, and our souls. For years, health nuts have struggled to get stevia (a plant that can be turned into a healthy sugar alternative) FDA approved. But the FDA came up with excuse after excuse as to why this would not happen. Several months ago, Coca-cola (owner of Vitamin Water) patented and got FDA-approved an extract of stevia, which they named Truvia. Cocacola speaks louder, truly.

And now, as of a few days ago, Vitamin Water 10 is on the market - 10 calories, that's all. As their label says: "Naturally sweet... supernaturally tasty." But Vitamin Water 10 is not just a man-made treat, nor is it straight from the earth. Rather, through a combination of man's power and nature's resources, it has transcended what we know - it is supernatural, a new miracle. It knows better, and so we can we. It is up to us. As its new commercial states: "Vitamin Water 10: It's one-upped nature." In this commercial, an imaginary company called Water Inc. is featured. The chief executive is named Mother Nature. She complains that Vitamin Water 10 is "cutting into our market share... We need to take back our competitive edge!" But can she? Should she? The believer must decide.

He clicks on a link. Vitamin Water has 269,779 fans. He reads. Geoff Smith, who has no profile picture, says yesterday, at 6:02 am: "Vitamin Water go global!" Is Vitamin Water not global? the believer asks. Is the miracle not eternal?