Local duo profit from ‘don’t touch me’ craze

Two local technology enthusiasts have cleverly seized on the “Don’t Touch Me On My Studio” internet meme by opportunistically registering the domain “donttouchmeonmystudio.co.za” and creating a website highlighting satirical videos and content about the craze.

The site has even diversified into selling thongs and briefs branded with the phrase.

The new site, inspired by the now immortalised on-air showdown between eNews presenter Chris Maroleng and AWB secretary-general André Visage, pulls together the plethora of online content generated since the 7 April incident –- providing the user with a sort of highlights reel of all the best “hits”.

The site, which was created by Durban-based developers Marc Forrest and Patrick Mckay, went live amidst the craze and has apparently registered more than 12 000 page views to date.

Forrest told Memeburn.com: “Initially it was more for a laugh, but then when it got a mention on 5FM from Fresh on his show, and the site got over 3 000 hits in an hour. We knew we were onto something. So we stuck up a bit of advertising, and made back our cash for the domain and a couple of beers.”

When asked whether or not he thought there was a market for doing similar types of meme-based sites in the future, Forrest said: “There is definitely a ‘market’ for these types of meme sites.

“This was a fantastic experiment, and it looks like there is a market for this, especially in South Africa, where internet users still use email to send these type of memes to friends,” said Forrest.