This past week we’ve seen two very clever hoaxes in the media. Or at least one very clever hoax and one so well done that we had to believe it was real until they told us it was a hoax whereby we shouted, “I KNEW IT!”
LIVR, the app that fooled the world
http://vimeo.com/88209254
Before continuing, you’re gonna need to watch the video above first. That is LIVR, the cool, new app that was launched into the market nary a few days ago at SXSW. The media went nuts for this cheeky app that you could only access if you were drunk. Sites like Elite Daily, Pocket Lint, Daily Mail and even Engadget presented it as fact.
Turns out, they were all wrong. Gizmodo finally broke that the app was a hoax, but not before investors and media lined up to sing praises about this new app in the market. In fact even after the hoax was discovered LIVR’s inbox is still being filled with hopeful job seekers, investors and beta testers.
Who is behind this clever hoax? That would be video producer Brandon Bolch and interaction designer Brandon Schmittling who say that their main goal for this elaborate hoax is to critique the start up culture that is increasingly out of ideas and the media that blindly covers it.
Well that’s all well and good, but I’m thinking, I would love to see this fake app become a reality – which is something that is in the realm of possibility seeing that Bolch and Schmittling have already filed for a trademark and that the app has already generated copious amount of media and investor interest. Now we shall wait and see.
HUVr the ad that killed the dream of Back to the Future fans
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4vE_vpkr90
When this ad came out I was undecided on whether it was real or not. On one hand, hoverboards and Christopher Lloyd! So obviously, I thought it was fake, but then Tony Hawk came on and Moby came on and Terrell Owens came on and little by little by doubt was chipping away. And just as I come around to the idea that a childhood dream of mine might actually come true, BAM! We find out that it is a fake. What is this world coming to that people will mess with the dreams of thousands of people who just want to ride a hoverboard? Tsk.
Well, I’m waiting for the real thing. I’m sure, any day now…
