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About the Museum
The Museum of Hoaxes is dedicated to promoting knowledge about hoaxes. (Click here for opening hours, etc.) On our blog we post about dubious- sounding claims, and whatever else strikes our fancy. The site is also home to the Hoaxipedia (the museum's online encyclopedia of hoaxes), and the Hoax Forum.
The museum was created in 1997 by Alex Boese. He's assisted by a staff of deputy curators and docents. Alex is the author of three books, most recently Elephants on Acid: And Other Bizarre Experiments (which has nothing to do with hoaxes). Check out the list of the Top 20 Most Bizarre Experiments of All Time for a preview.
The Museum of Hoaxes is dedicated to promoting knowledge about hoaxes. (Click here for opening hours, etc.) On our blog we post about dubious- sounding claims, and whatever else strikes our fancy. The site is also home to the Hoaxipedia (the museum's online encyclopedia of hoaxes), and the Hoax Forum.
The museum was created in 1997 by Alex Boese. He's assisted by a staff of deputy curators and docents. Alex is the author of three books, most recently Elephants on Acid: And Other Bizarre Experiments (which has nothing to do with hoaxes). Check out the list of the Top 20 Most Bizarre Experiments of All Time for a preview.Prankplace.com
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#62: Freewheelz
The April 2000 issue of Esquire magazine introduced its readers to an exciting new company called Freewheelz. This company had a novel business plan. It intended to provide drivers with free cars. In exchange, the lucky drivers had to agree both to the placement of large advertisements on the outside of their vehicle and to the streaming of advertisements on the radio inside their car. Strict criteria limited the number of people eligible to receive a free car. Not only did you have to guarantee that you would drive over 300 miles a week, you also had to complete a 600-question survey that probed into personal information such as your political affiliations and whether you were concerned about hair loss. Finally you had to submit your family's tax returns, notarized video-store-rental receipts, and a stool sample. The entire article, written by Ted Fishman, was a satire of the much-touted "new economy" spawned by the internet. Attentive readers would have caught on to the joke if they had noticed that Freewheelz's official rollout on the web was slated to occur on April 1. But readers who didn't notice this tip-off flooded the offices of Esquire with calls, demanding to know how they could sign up to drive a free minivan. The satire also went over the head of the CEO's of a number of real internet start-ups with business plans similar to that of the fictitious Freewheelz, companies such as Mobile Billboard Network, Freecar.com, and Autowraps.com. Larry Butler, the CEO of freecar.com, later confessed to Fishman that he was so scared at the prospect of this new competition that he cried when he first read the article.
Comments
Listed in chronological order. Newest comments at the end.
Page 1 of 1 pages
He cried??...wow.
Posted by Nikki on Wed Mar 29, 2006 at 09:56 AM
Sign me up!
Posted by Fish on Sun Apr 02, 2006 at 12:41 PM
The problem with this one is it's not far-fetched enough. Many "dot com" companies were making similar claims. It's not much of a prank since many "dot com" companies had similarly unbelievably stupid business plans.
Posted by Eric on Fri Apr 07, 2006 at 04:54 PM
Actually in Sydney you can actually get free cars which are just billboards. You apply and if they think you are driving in the right suburbs and have the right friends then they give you a free smart car... wierd
Posted by Jetaxe on Wed Apr 12, 2006 at 06:38 AM
And on Chasers War on Everyhting tonight, they hired one and drove through the streets of Sydney mooning people from it!
Posted by David Broadfoot in Sydney, Australia on Fri Jul 07, 2006 at 06:03 AM
Actually, this does sound plausible. Maybe it'll end up being one of those hoaxes that sounds so good someone does it for real, like the night-time sundial.
Posted by Michelle in London on Mon Feb 19, 2007 at 05:00 AM
Page 1 of 1 pages