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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 Hoax Photo Database, the Hoax Forum, and the Hoaxipedia.
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 Hoax Photo Database, the Hoax Forum, and the Hoaxipedia.
RUDE ROVERThe Christmas dog with no class! He sings and toots Jingle Bells.
INFLATABLE TREEWho needs the hassle of a real Christmas tree?
FARTING SANTAGo ahead and pull his finger!
GreenTeaGirlie
Status: Two separate deceptions (YouTube manipulation and a hoax website)
David Sarno at the LA Times uncovers a web of deception surrounding a recent YouTube sensation called GreenTeaGirlie.It all started in late March when a 10-second video of a young woman introducing herself became one of the most-watched videos on YouTube. Why was this video so popular, many people wondered. After all, it wasn't very remarkable. Was she another lonelygirl15?
Soon after, two related websites appeared: greenteagirlie.com and kallieannie.com.
The first site, greenteagirlie.com, contained a link to Seattle's Dragonwater Tea Co. (promoting suspicion that GreenTeaGirlie was a marketing ploy) and later to a site called Vidstars.net, that claimed to be a marketing service using YouTube video stars to promote products.
The second site, kallieannie.com, was all about the GreenTeaGirlie, whose real name, apparently, is Kallie.
So what was going on? The LA Times reporter figured out there were two different deceptions perpetrated by different groups.
Deception One: A friend of Kallie shot the video of her and then gamed the YouTube system by creating hundreds of fake MySpace profiles that linked to her video, artificially causing it to appear on YouTube's most watched video list, bringing her to the attention of YouTube viewers who then really did begin checking out her video. The same guy helped created kallieannie.com.
Deception Two: A separate pair of pranksters took advantage of the GreenTeaGirlie phenomenon to promote a hoax of their own -- Vidstars.net. Their idea was to create a fictitious company that was supposedly using YouTube stars to promote products. They created the greenteagirlie.com site, and linked it to the Dragonwater Tea Co., as a way to make it seem as if GreenTeaGirlie was a marketing ploy. So it was a hoax within a hoax. All very complicated.
So to sum up, GreenTeaGirlie is an artificially hyped YouTube star, who has nothing to do with Vidstars.net, which is a hoax website pretending to be a company that uses YouTube stars to promote products.
Or, at least, that's the way it seems for now. Unless it's all a hoax within a hoax within a hoax, engineered as a byzantine marketing stunt for Green Tea.
For those interested, here's GreenTeaGirlie's YouTube page that lists all of her videos.
Posted By: Alex | Date: Fri May 04, 2007 | Permalink |
Total Comments: 12
Category: Websites, Photos/Videos
Category: Websites, Photos/Videos
Listed in chronological order. Newest comments at the end.
Page 1 of 1 pages
Is her dancing annoying or cute?
Posted by Chadds Ford Prefect on Fri May 04, 2007 at 10:53 AMWhere does it say she dances?
Posted by Cranky Media Guy on Fri May 04, 2007 at 04:42 PMUnless your report of this story is a hoax... (what would it be then???)
Posted by Christopher in Joplin, Missouri on Sat May 05, 2007 at 06:38 AMHere she is dancing.
Posted by Alex in San Diego on Sat May 05, 2007 at 08:11 AMThe hoax is that this is come kind of promotional campaign, when it's really a competition for the most boring video ever shot.
Posted by Big Gary in Spindletop, Texas on Sun May 06, 2007 at 10:53 AMWhoops, I meant to say "some kind of promotional campaign ..." No suggestive reference intended there (unless you want there to be).
Posted by Big Gary in Mars on Sun May 06, 2007 at 10:55 AMOh how I love me some Youtube hoaxes! It does sound a bit fake. Guess it goes with the whole LoneyGirl 15 Paradox. Cute girl talks about life and dances. I notice her "boyfriend" Dax Flame who you could say a fairly popular could have flung her into fame more which would make him fake. So she either an actress or marketing scheme.
BTW did anyone else notice how stuck on herself she is?
Posted by Bauer22 on Sun May 06, 2007 at 08:45 PMBTW did anyone else notice how stuck on herself she is?
Cute story. Can't be bothered to watch her videos, though, except the one which lets me answer Chadd's Ford Prefect. So to CFP, the answer is: annoying. And crap, obviously. (Note: cutish-looking girl dancing annoyingly badly does not equal cute dancing.)
Posted by outeast on Sun May 06, 2007 at 11:00 PMCan someone explain what the codes and stuff on her whiteboard are about?
Posted by JaySee on Mon May 07, 2007 at 01:46 PMIs it just me, or are hoaxes getting more boring these days? Where's the guys who sell the Eiffel Tower, where's the Fiji Mermaids or the Bigfoot videos (if that is a hoax mwah hah hah). Where's the modern day equivalent of the Bonsai Kittens? (I've been debunking that one on various notice boards for at least 5 years). Nope, in 2007, our hoaxes are all dull people doing uninteresting stuff on Youtube.
Posted by Nona in London on Thu May 10, 2007 at 04:58 AM@ outeast
Yeah I should have used cuteish.
Posted by Bauer22 on Sat May 12, 2007 at 07:08 PMYeah I should have used cuteish.
More to the point . . . Does watching only the 'popular' YouTube clips cause stupidity, or does stupidity cause watching popular YouTube? 
Posted by DFStuckey in Auckland New Zealand on Mon Jun 04, 2007 at 08:35 PMPage 1 of 1 pages