Billboards for Submarines, part 2

I posted two months ago about underwater billboards that Ivar Haglund supposedly placed at the bottom of Puget Sound back in the 1950s in order to advertise his restaurant to submarines. Some suspected a hoax, and it turns out they were right. From the Seattle Times:

That story about those Ivar's underwater billboards at the bottom of Puget Sound, supposedly anchored in the mid-1950s?...
Fake, fake, fake.
The documents were faked on a computer. The billboard was a wooden prop, says Bob Donegan, president of Ivar's Inc. The only thing real about it was the barnacles stuck to it...
It was a great marketing campaign. Donegan says about $250,000 was spent on the hoax and the follow-up TV and radio ads and real highway billboards. The hoax was reported Oct. 23 in the industry publication Nation's Restaurant News. Donegan says he wasn't to reveal the hoax until after the ad campaign ended this month, but decided to come clean when the industry publication called.

(Thanks, Robert!)

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Posted on Fri Nov 13, 2009


Comments

I wanted to believe, but something was fishy with the way the presented the pictures and video...
Posted by Wally  on  Fri Nov 13, 2009  at  10:11 AM
Agreed, I thought it seemed suspicious, but they looked like they were very well aged for fakes. If something like this had been true, it would have just been a wonderful find. Too bad it was just another marketing ploy. No wonder people are so skeptical/cynical about everything they see or hear on the news.
Posted by Kristen55  on  Fri Nov 13, 2009  at  02:51 PM
I admire this publicity stunt. It's too bad, though, that Ivar didn't really put ads for submarines under the water back in the 50's. That's a funny idea and would have gotten a lot of attention from then to now.
Posted by Cranky Media Guy  on  Fri Nov 13, 2009  at  06:31 PM
🐛 250,000,mules! Holy crap
Posted by aaron  on  Sun Nov 15, 2009  at  07:58 PM
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