Forward or Delete: This Week's Fake Viral Photos
Occasionally, against all odds, you'll see an interesting or even enjoyable picture on the Internet. But is it worth sharing, or just another Photoshop job that belongs in the digital trash heap? Check in here and find out if that viral photo deserves an enthusiastic "forward" or a pitiless "delete."
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It was April Fools' Day on Wednesday, America's annual celebration of older siblings executing low-level psychological torture and businesses (openly) lying to their customers. One such company was footwear retailer Miz Mooz, which introduced the "Selfie Shoe" this week, a product that, contrary to USA Today's claims, is not a real thing or part of the world we live in.
A number of news outlets soon verified the campaign was a hoax, prompting USA Today to run a non-retraction "clarification" reading "USA TODAY has confirmed that this is an early April Fools' Day joke sent as legitimate news."
Images via Twitter
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As previously noted in Antiviral's April Fools' Day megalist, Not in the Stars, to Hold Our Destiny—a supposed sequel to John Green's best-selling teen snuff novel The Fault in Our Stars—is not real. Many were surely tipped off by the book's MS Paint-caliber cover art, but less than 12 hours after making the announcement, Penguin Teen Australia came clean on Twitter.
Images via Twitter
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While bearing all the hallmarks of a dumb April Fools' prank, Burger King's Japan-exclusive beef perfume "Flame-Grilled Fragrance" was, in fact, a real thing you could buy starting the first day of this month.
For a reasonable-sounding 5,000 yen, The Verge's Sam Byford was able to get his hands on a bottle, offering this thoroughly descriptive review:
It's something like the burnt-rubber skidmarks left by a box-fresh-MacBook-carrying courier scooter after it crashed into a bacon salt factory. If I ever had to appear on Family Feud and name this scent, "Burger King Whopper" would be a few hundred billion down the list of trillion possibilities.
Image via Twitter//h/t The Intersect
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Jimmy John's drone delivery program, on the other hand, was exactly what it looked like: a cruel trick on the fragile minds of the company's chemically-altered fanbase.
The UK branch of Domino's Pizza unveiled a similar hoax this week, introducing the (entirely fictional) driverless delivery service Domi-No-Driver.
Images via Twitter
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Finally, there is this viral photo, which has the unique distinction of being both real and not bad. Created by Romanian videomappers VisualSKIN for the Amsterdam Light Festival, the holographic ghost ship seen above looks no less stunning when filmed by a shaky cellphone camera.
