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Genpets (shrinkwrapped pets)
Status: Hoax (art project)
image Meet Genpets, the cute, cuddly (kind of ugly) pets of the future, that come shrinkwrapped in plastic:
Genpets are living, breathing mammals. Bio-Genica is a Bioengineering Company that has combined, and modified existing DNA to create the Genpets lineup. Genpets are flesh and blood just like any other animal... Genpets are designed to be sold on retail store shelves, not traditional pet stores. This is why they are packaged in plastic.
It should be pretty obvious that Genpets aren't real, though the Genpets site is well designed. The Genpets site is the creation of artist Adam Brandejs. Apparently he's actually been hanging these things in store windows. And the real-life versions of them look like they're alive, thanks to some robotics and circuitry. He writes:
Genpets seems to create a reaction wherever they go. While in the store window of Iodine Toronto, the shop owner began sleeping in the store as many nights, people would bang at the windows furiously. Some in protest of the small Bio-genetically engineered creatures trapped in plastic, some wanting to wake them up or buy them. Hordes of teens wanting a bioengineered pet met confused, baffled, or even shocked looks from parents. For an upcoming generation, through our own marketing techniques, life and the idea of life are quickly becoming viewed as disposable commodities. It’s easier to dismiss Genpets as a hoax or exaggeration when you’re not faced with a wall of them. The experience of a grainy photo is different than standing face to face with a breathing, sleeping Genpet.
(Thanks to Torbjørn Solstad for the link)
Categories: Animals, Technology, Websites
Posted by Alex on Wed Jun 14, 2006
Comments (59)
More from the Hoax Museum Archives:
these things are fake... I don't see how hard it is to grasp the concept... it's noted in a multitude of sources... do your research

in addition animal rights?
playing God?

like these are new concepts... go look at any testing lab and you'll see stuff more disconcerting then a "genpet"
Posted by cpalermino  on  Tue Jun 05, 2007  at  02:37 PM
ladies and gentlemen this is the image of our future... wake up and feel the danger...we try to be better and more and more and more perfect... this will lead us to make the perfect man. and we will destroy our kind. very good idea to wake us up.
Posted by apostolis stikas  on  Tue Sep 25, 2007  at  06:51 AM
man, i sooo wanted one. AND THEN I FOUND OUT IT WAS A HOAX! I refused to believe it at first - that is soooo awesome!
Why don't they just make it? Obviously its gotten a reaction from the public, whether that be good, or bad. I think we should recognise how far we've come today re. technology
Posted by babyslug  on  Thu Oct 18, 2007  at  09:44 PM
... wow babyslug... killer screen name

they can't make them "for everyone" because we humans haven't created life out of plastic yet

and also because companies though close aren't going to produce things for the whims of people, especially shrink wrapped life forms

an artist made them

not mattel
Posted by chacha  on  Sun Oct 21, 2007  at  10:03 PM
Have you seen Resident Evil?
Think well about it.....
Posted by me  on  Wed Jan 02, 2008  at  04:44 AM
EEEWWW It looks like a dead baby.
Posted by Nicaroo  on  Tue Feb 05, 2008  at  03:57 PM
omg this is the best pet ever im getten one of those things and namen it sparkie! this is the best animal science ever! keep it up you guys make some more kewl animals!-Eecie<3
Posted by ElisE  on  Fri May 23, 2008  at  04:17 PM
I will get one definatley Eecie<3 talked me into them cute lil things were both definatly gettin them things we'll have playdates together 2. People say they'll eat you in your sleep like my friend daniel. NOT TRUE PEEPLE!
outy Livso

P.S. Im naming mine Geraldo
Posted by Olivia  on  Sat May 24, 2008  at  12:05 PM
Hey, you know what is so funny about their FAQ answers? there is a question that says if genpets bite! and the answer is that they should not bite, however they come with teeth remover kit!!!
Wow!! thats so cruel! would anyone teaches a kid to remove their pets' teeth if the pet bites!! would you do that to your dog!
I believe this website is desined by some psycology student working on some kind of semi research on peoples sadistic capabilities! Maybe to see how far would people go to be sadistic trowards an imaginary creature that they think is made by human so is destined to be turchered by human. Or if people care at all!
Posted by lADAN  on  Mon Jul 07, 2008  at  07:06 PM
When i heard about them I thought it is breakthrough and rushed to the website and well it was obviously a hoax! but the saddest part is there are many people out there believing in it!
Posted by MSH  on  Sun Jul 20, 2008  at  05:51 AM
They are LIVE Orcs like Lord of the Rings :(((((
it makes me feel creepy
Posted by Van Helsing  on  Tue Aug 12, 2008  at  01:32 AM
that is sick u dumb noobs
Posted by the bEst  on  Sat Sep 06, 2008  at  11:31 PM
These will haunt my dreams for months to come.
Posted by Tripp  on  Sun Sep 14, 2008  at  09:52 PM
I don't beleive any one any more, not museum of Hoaxes not even genpets. I hate you are all liers , go to hell with your ugly speechless toys
Posted by Hadeel  on  Sun Oct 26, 2008  at  01:26 AM
I was watching the mexican news this morning and the did a very small and informal thing about the genpets, AS IF THEY WERE REAL!!
I was shocked. A simple google search shows its a hoax and yet one of the largest news shows in Mexico reports this as a new and real development in the genetics industry!! What a shame.
Posted by Hector T  on  Tue Nov 04, 2008  at  10:53 AM
Yes what a shame, I think they try to see people reaction to it & how they feel about it, as if we are (Lab Rats)
Posted by Hadeel  on  Tue Nov 04, 2008  at  10:49 PM
You people took this too seariusly.
They fooled me for 2 minutes, while I read the webpage (which is very good).
But the lack of pictures of one of those alive, and the fact that is packed in a shrink wrap, gave it away.
As soon as I typed it in google to confirm it, the answer was reveal.
Very controversial art,
Posted by Peppy  on  Tue Dec 02, 2008  at  01:05 PM
Cute????? This thing is CUTE??? It's creepy, gross, ugly and totally unatural. And even creepier to think that tomorrows generations think that life is worth nothing. And did we not learn anything from "The Fly?" All this bioengineering, cloning, playing god, etc. is just going to bite us in the butt!
Posted by gaby O  on  Mon Dec 08, 2008  at  03:58 PM
people really don't read and just follow their emotion without realizing that it's not true and the website is just a marketing ploy.
Posted by kwatog  on  Sun Jan 11, 2009  at  10:43 PM
omg people, this is a giant HOAX HOAX HOAX HOAX HOAX HOAX HOAX HOAX HOAX HOAX HOAX HOAX HOAX HOAX HOAX HOAX HOAX HOAX HOAX HOAX HOAX HOAX HOAX HOAX HOAX.
Posted by Snaffer  on  Tue Mar 03, 2009  at  02:09 PM
omg Snaffer, someone should tell the webmaster so he can put an appropriate label on the post - maybe something like 'Hoax (art project)'. He could even add something to the text... maybe something like 'It should be pretty obvious that Genpets aren't real' or 'the real-life versions of them look like they're alive, thanks to some robotics and circuitry'?

:roll:
Posted by outeast  on  Wed Mar 04, 2009  at  01:04 AM
mom:know what that is baby?
child:the ugliest monkey in the univerese!?
mom:close, its a crime against nature :
Posted by zoey  on  Fri Jul 17, 2009  at  03:18 PM
OMG!!! IM BLIND!!!! THE HORROR!!!! I,I, SEE THE LIGHT!!!!!!!!!!THERE SICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by kitty  on  Fri Jul 17, 2009  at  03:24 PM
but if its not real how comes on youtube i seen it move but its true
ive never seen it out of packaging and never with is eyes open but i have seen it bob its head! but for this animal just to come out of the bloom, it dont even have a proper name! and the type of things they write on the web http://www.genpets.com , makes you wonder and it is true why would they advertise false stuff, they say it can urinate and that, and if u cut it or something it bleeds and that it walks and crawls i say,i say, That some one should test one out and see if it does wakeup, by the way is Genpets even in store i havent heard anything about it in uk,?
if this cute animal is real i think i would buy one because its better than it staying in that box lyke a toy!!! cruelty in a way but yh!!!
Posted by That Girl  on  Wed Dec 02, 2009  at  12:22 PM
awwwwwwwwww dont be mean is it a REal hoax, they got me real fooled!!!! not happy :(
Posted by That Girl  on  Wed Dec 02, 2009  at  12:26 PM
its true its not real
http://www.brandejs.ca/portfolio/Genpets/What
official web if u cant be bothad 2 look scroll dwn


What are Genpets? You tell me.
Genpets seem to create a reaction wherever they go. While in the store window of Iodine Toronto, the shop owner began sleeping in the store as many nights, people would bang at the windows furiously. Some in protest of the small bio-genetically engineered creatures trapped in plastic, some wanting to wake them up or buy them. Hordes of teens wanting a bioengineered pet met confused, baffled, or even shocked looks from parents. For an upcoming generation, through our own marketing techniques, life and the idea of life are quickly becoming viewed as disposable commodities.
To dismiss Genpets as a 'hoax' would be to completely miss the point. The spirit of art is to create an illusion. Genpets is designed 'as is' to help the viewer ponder the idea a bit longer.

and.............................


If you
Posted by That Girl  on  Wed Dec 02, 2009  at  12:40 PM
The first time I saw this I thought it was real. But then my sense of logic woke me up from the illusion. I must indeed say that this is a very well planned-out hoax.
Posted by Subaltern  on  Sat Feb 06, 2010  at  08:38 PM
UKH.... Very funny:)
Posted by sara carpet cleaning hertfordshire  on  Wed Jun 09, 2010  at  06:57 AM
Okay first off to say is that I don't know if these things are real or not..

I think they are real because:
If they weren't alive and breathing that would be false advertisment and I know its art but it is still false advertising.Which could get the company heavily sued.(and plus i hope they are real even though they probably aren't) Oh by the way there is really a cloned cow out there I saw it! 0.o
Posted by That Lady  on  Fri Jul 16, 2010  at  03:26 PM
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