Brangelina in Manila: A social experiment

I was in the middle of the workday when I got a call from a friend telling me about a text she had just received. The “secret” text said superstars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie — Brangelina to the press, and a term Jolie hates by the way — were in town and were staying at the Shangri-La Makati Hotel.

My initial reaction was of disbelief since I thought it was just a running joke in Facebook.

Facebook and Twitter were agog with status messages asking for the veracity of the Brangelina in Manila story.

My inner stalker realized I was practically a 15-minute walk from Shangri-La and could swing by to check it out. As soon as I got off the phone, I started texting and calling people whom I thought cared enough about Brangelina.

Soon after, everybody within my one-mile radius was formulating their own theories of why the celebrated Hollywood couple would come to the Philippines. Was it publicity for the opening of the Shangri-la Boracay Resort? Were they adopting another child? Were they special guests of the Tantocos?

Nobody could verify it, so we thought, could this be an experiment on how rumor spreads or is it an April Fool’s joke spread too late?

In Robert Knapp’s 1944 book, A Psychology of Rumor, he identified three basic characteristics of rumor: 1) transmitted through word of mouth, 2) provided information about a person or an event, and 3) gratified an emotional need of the community.

The Brangelina news fulfills all three characteristics. And true to form, as rumor travels, the buzz about the A-list brood grew shorter, more concise, more easily grasped and told. Each version became a little more convincing with personal testimonials of the infamous “I have a friend of a friend” variety.

Many rumors have followed the same pattern in the past.

When I was a freshman at UP Diliman in 1996, a story went around that one of the Spice Girls was actually a transvestite. While I thought it was Scary Spice, some of my friends guessed it was Posh.

That turned out to be a hoax as both are mothers to beautiful children today.

There was also a raging rumor about Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys actually being a girl. People would tell the story with an accompanying anecdote that Nick had the highest pitch among the BSB and did not bare his chest in the boy band’s video Quit Playing Games With My Heart.

Almost everybody was convinced because both supporting proofs seemed pretty factual. Or so we thought.

The Brangie rumor did simmer down a bit during the Lenten holidays but it had a mild spark on Monday when blogs and e-mails spread a link of a Daily Mail article that read: “Angelina and Brad set their sights on the Philippines as they plan baby number seven.”

Finally, a confirmation, everybody thought. Was there a Bhoyet or Jennelyn Jolie-Pitt in the near future? But then again, the Daily Mail is a British tabloid whose reputation is as good as yours or mine.

As we all know, rumors come and go and people move onto the next big thing. The latest one making the rounds is that Madonna is coming to Manila next week to adopt a child.

Any takers?