Advertising Hoaxes

Advertising Gone Awry — A strange case of a prank gone awry. Two men rushed onto the field during a rugby match wearing nothing but the logo of Vodafone, a mobile phone company. The logo was painted on their backs. Amazingly, Vodafone had actually approved the stunt. The presence of the streakers caused one of the players to miss a penalty kick. On the subject of odd forms of 'guerrilla marketing,' here's a website that claims it will connect you with corporations who are willing to pay you to wear a tattoo of their corporate logo. They're called tADoos. It's a hoax, of course. But it's not original. NPR presented this exact scenario as an April Fool's Day joke back in 1994.

The Crying Indian — The "Crying Indian" was a fake! The guy who starred in all those "Keep America Beautiful" ads during the 1970s turns out not to have had a single drop of Native American blood in him, despite his claims to the contrary. He was actually an Italian-American named Oscar DeCorti.

Guerrilla Marketing — The Wall Street Journal reports on the new trend in 'guerrilla marketing.' Hired actors and actresses (though not famous ones) will be paid to use products in trendy places where the use of the product will be seen by a lot of people. So now if you notice someone talking on a new cell phone next to you, you'll have to wonder if the person is for real or just an actor.