Consider this: in this mess of tweets and status updates we call the internet, there is no stronger cultural currency than the humble GIF, particularly the kind we can share and claim as our own. There isnt a marketing budget on this planet that could have had the kind of positive impact the Luigi Death Stare GIF had. None. In fact, the first time I saw the GIF was on Facebook, it was accompanied by the words, this GIF may just have sold me on a Wii U. The next day a status update: Just bought a Wii U, who wants to play Mario Kart?
Incredible. I saw about a dozen similar messages on my various feeds over the next two or three days. 24 hours later it was on Fox News. This is how we communicate. We live in a world where a simple GIF could very well drag the Wii U in from the brink.
