Hoax Museum Blog Posts: June 2014

This Day in the History of Hoaxes: June 3

June 3, 2002: The Retractable Capitol Dome
On this day in 2002, the Beijing Evening News ran a story alleging that the U.S. Congress was hoping to construct a new Capitol building that included a retractable dome roof. When critics mocked the newspaper for having mistaken a satirical story in The Onion for real news, the paper's editor denied this, saying "How can you prove it's not correct? Is it incorrect just because you say it is?" More …

Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2014.   Comments (0)

This Day in the History of Hoaxes: June 2

June 2, 2001: Dave Manning Exposed
Newsweek reporter John Horn revealed that movie reviewer Dave Manning, whose positive blurbs often appeared on ads for movies put out by Columbia Pictures, didn't actually exist. He was a fictional person created by a marketing executive at Sony, the parent company of Columbia Pictures, entirely for the purpose of making it appear as if their movies were getting good reviews. More…

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2014.   Comments (0)

This Day in the History of Hoaxes: June 1

June 1, 1997: Wear Sunscreen!
Mary Schmich published a humorous column in the Chicago Tribune on June 1 advising college grads that her best advice for the future was to "wear sunscreen." Two months later, the text of her column began circulating widely via email, but attributed to Kurt Vonnegut and said to be a commencement speech he had given at MIT. Even Vonnegut's wife reportedly received the hoax email and, believing it to actually be the work of her husband, forwarded it to family and friends. [about.com, Chicago Tribune]

June 1, 2007: De Grote Donorshow
The premise of the Dutch reality TV show De Grote Donorshow (The Big Donor Show) was that a terminally ill woman with an incurable brain tumor would decide which of 25 "contestants" in need of a kidney transplant would get to have her organ. Despite widespread condemnation, the show went ahead as planned, airing on June 1, 2007. But minutes before the end, the entire thing was revealed to be a hoax designed to publicize the urgent need for more organ donors. [wikipedia]
Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2014.   Comments (1)

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