A Hug from Taylor Swift

Two 22-year-old college students, Michael Wekall and Ryan Leander, are campaigning on Auburn’s campus and making a documentary in hopes to receive a hug from country pop star idol Taylor Swift.

“I simply would like a hug and the chance to meet Taylor,” Leander said. “If it goes beyond that awesome, but ultimately meeting her and hanging out is our goal.”

Both Wekall and Leander have been busy promoting their efforts. So far, they have created a website (http://www.ahugfromtaylorswift.com/ahugfromtaylorswift/Home.html), Facebook group with more than 1,600 members, twitter account and several YouTube videos. In Auburn, they have been promoted on two local radio stations, Mix 96.7 and Kicker FM 97.7, as well as the student-run radio station, Weagle and television station, Eagle Eye.

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The determined seniors have also organized a “hugging practice” event on Auburn’s concourse to bring awareness to students. Additionally, Wekall and Leander had an article written about their efforts in The Corner News, made contact with a few local news stations out of Montgomery, produced five short videos and some hysterical commercials, made “A Hug from Taylor Swift” t-shirts, had a song written on their behalf and have posted Taylor’s face in many places around campus. Most of these efforts can be viewed on their website.

“A hug is so simple,” said Leander. “It’s a common greeting and a nice gesture for both sides. We found a quote from Taylor that shared her feelings about hugging, and have used it as a major quote for our website.”

“I’ve always been a hugger… If we all hugged more, the world would be a better place.” –Taylor Swift

Wekall strongly believes he will get a fug from Taylor, while Leander is hoping, but not as confident.

“It’s inevitable,” Wekall said. “We’ve put a lot of time and effort into our campaign and our promotions are really great, therefore, I think it’ll pay off and we’ll receive a hug.”

Wekall and Leander do have some promising connections.

“We have a friend who went to the same church as Taylor,” said Wekall. “ She was also very close with Taylor’s best friend.”

He continued to explain that Taylor had already been directly called and e-mailed to make her aware of the A Hug from Taylor Swift campaign going on. And, they have also made contact with Taylor’s best friend, who said she would convey the message to Taylor.

When asked why they wanted to do something like this, Wekall replied, “We’ve always liked making videos, whether it be music videos or short films, so we wanted to do something different and bigger that many people would enjoy.”

“Taylor is so respected and popular right now and also lives in Nashville, which is not far from us,” Ryan said. “Her close proximity is key, and therefore, meeting her does not seem unreachable.”

Both of the students said they watched a documentary “My Date with Drew,” where a guy tried to win a date with Drew Barrymore and actually succeeded. They believe this might have also sparked their interest and encouraged them to develop an effort to meet a celebrity.

Both guys are dedicated to making their effort happen. However, if they don’t get a hug, they’ll consider their efforts a success due to the publicity growth they have accomplished.

Neither Wekall nor Leander has ever done anything similar to this before, but they do have further plans for the future. Next, they would like to meet Ellen Degeneres and possibly get on her show.