Czech Dream

Today, I'll be talking about Vít Klusák and Filip Remunda, two Czech film students who pulled off one of the most daring hoaxes in recent memory. Like a latter-day, anti-consumerist Piltdown Man, these two spent thousands on an advertisement campaign (by BBDO, who is pretty big in advertising, don't you know) for a hypermarket that doesn't exist. Television and radio spots, hundreds of billboards and hundreds of thousands of posters, all advertising "Český Sen" or "Czech Dream" with slogans like "Don't Go, Don't Rush, Don't Buy." Long story short, after building up some buzz, over 3000 people showed up on an empty lot with a giant storefront in front of them. Eventually, the two intrepid masterminds cut the ribbon and thousands swarmed up to what they thought would be a new place to get their cheap stuff. And what happened when shocked, confused, frenzied shoppers found that they were stampeding to get to a 100-meter-wide facade over some scaffolding?

Wacky. They made a documentary about it all. It's in Czech, but since it's at the top of my Netflix queue, I hope it has English subtitles.