67 © he Editor(s) (if applicable) and he Author(s) 2016 K. Nixon, L. Servitje (eds.), Endemic, DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-52141-5_4 4 Needles and Bullets: Media Theory, Medicine, and Propaganda, 1910–1940 Ghislain Thibault Going Viral “Going viral” is the driving motivation of most media gurus today. Campaigns wanting to tap into the “power” of social media rely on the same call for action: spread the word, share with friends, be part of the buzz. Of course, online virality is not always carefully orchestrated, and sometimes it is the result of a spontaneous response from Internet users who feel they have unearthed a gem that needs to be publicized. However, many of the messages that go viral have been carefully staged and their future virality has been implemented right from the beginning. It was the case, for instance, for a short clip of a young woman displaying “teleki- netic” powers in a New York cofee shop that became one of YouTube’s most viewed videos of 2013. he video had been created by hinkmodo, an American marketing agency that specializes in viral campaigns, as part promotional material for MGM’s remake of the ilm Carrie. Marketers like hinkmodo have adopted the vocabulary of “virality” to explain to eager corporations the new ground rule of advertising: for a campaign to be successful, it needs to look and feel as if both the production and the transmission of the message are now in the hands of the audience,