From brands, to international news outlets, and to every corner of local showbiz, everyone seems engaged in what could be the biggest breakup of the century.
When you think about it, breakups in showbiz, is no longer a phenomenon. It has gone commonplace since who-knows-when. It’s hardly surprising when the next big news to hit the headlines of your favorite primetime newscast, is your favorite celebrity couple calling it quits.
Some splits are rather quiet, which may be a choice between the involved parties, or simply, nobody just could not care less to talk about it. But when the whole industry is made to talk and engage in conversations about a celebrity couple’s breakup, that’s certainly another thing.
Kathryn gained 800k followers in just 24 hours.
700k nalang most followed celebrity na siya in PH beating Anne Curtis with 19.9M
— Kyle ✨ (@kylehubo) December 1, 2023
Social media has gone abuzz since popular Filipino love team, Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla, a.k.a. KathNiel, confirmed the suspicion of fans, that they have already parted ways. “Our love story began with respect, and ended with respect,”, Bernardo’s post read, closing a lengthy parting letter that recapped how the relationship blossomed and came to a conclusion.
The revelation was a bomb, and it spared no one across social media, showbiz, even advertising world.
Memes sprouted like beans soaked on water overnight, and theories and new secrets are made to arise. Lies? Maybe. Everyone seems to be mostly concerned about whether the once most love couple has the chance to be one again in the future. But there are also others who are patiently waiting for the other parties involved, to talk.
The KathNiel effect. pic.twitter.com/2thVTMG9qh
— K!PIE Channel (@KPIEChannel) November 30, 2023
But for the mean time, it’s both fun and sad, to anticipate what is coming next. Some brands have insensitively hop on the KathNiel bandwagon, only to generate sales; some creatively engaged in the chaos to spread good vibes on their social media feed.
A beauty salon offers a free makeover for ‘hurting’ KathNiel fans, while a shawarma brand endorsed by the couple, temporarily gets repeatedly bombarded with questions about their its ‘buy 1 take 1’ promo, which as the brand announced, remains ongoing despite the KathNiel split.
International news outlets which used to ignore Philippine showbiz, are now seemingly vying for the clout; and they’re successful.
Famous Filipino couple Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla have separated after 11 years. pic.twitter.com/GxXt4ZOzy8
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) November 30, 2023
They now know how to attract traffic to their pages: talk about popular celebrity couples like Kathniel. KathNiel on Pop Crave? That’s a bit unusual, don’t you think? But they indeed made it to the site. Korean, Singaporean, and Vietnamese agencies also picked up the news, and voila! engagement!
https://twitter.com/loeykoo/status/1730240365930643883?t=BIl3hfQYLLj7P_QYsMRCwA&s=19
Movies starred by the couple are suddenly occupying the movie blocks of various TV networks, and their biggest box office hits now back to VOD platforms’ most watched lists; sentimental song (Ben & Ben’s ‘Sa Susunod Na Habang Buhay’) which features them on its official MV, made a gargantuan leap on Spotify’s charts.
https://twitter.com/CandyKristen/status/1730833879232368737?t=RQkh-CizCrF2u89Dkq7XmA&s=19
https://twitter.com/iamrenzdmg/status/1730183039911858456?t=_rWZs7sUn-bnsdEQu3gYfA&s=19
Bernardo and Padilla have both been growing in terms of social media following, but when their Instagram statistics jumped by hundreds of thousands new followers, in mere hours, it is easy to guess they are making almost everyone talk. Fellow showbiz colleagues are seen reacting to their posts, and giving comments of comfort. Between the two, it’s Padilla who has been receiving the hate comments, but one can’t ignore how his followers has also risen since the confirmation made the local showbiz erupt.
https://twitter.com/Joww199820/status/1730745338842234947?t=OqC9eSpBXWV0GZ5fi5JS_w&s=19
Let’s see how this saga evolves and unveils new secrets in the coming days, because if there is one showbiz breakups have been consistent about, it is that there is always new facet, new details, and new character, to spice it up. Even at this moment, ‘KathNiel’ remains the number one trending topic on X (Twitter), Philippines.
It has already dulled numerous big promos in local showbiz that unfortunately eclipsed the confirmation. Other showbiz agencies will be wise to reschedule upcoming campaigns, and wait for the breakup issue to die out. That, or they better think a new marketing strategy that also involves KathNiel.
