About the Museum of Hoaxes
The Museum of Hoaxes is dedicated to promoting knowledge about hoaxes. (Click here for opening hours, etc.) On our blog we post about whatever dubious-sounding claims come across our path on a day-by-day basis. In our archives we have hundreds of articles about the most fascinating and notorious deceptions throughout history, from the middle ages to the present.
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From the Archives: Miss Perfect Profile
Status: Advertising gimmick
Arthur Davis, who ran a New York-based model agency in the 1950s, hit upon a novel way to get his models featured in newspapers. He simply invented titles they had supposedly won, awarded by important-sounding but fictitious organizations. For instance, he might claim that one of his models had just been chosen "Miss Perfect Profile" by the "Plastic Surgeons Institute." Or that another had been chosen "Miss Secret Mission" by the "Canadian Northwest Mounties Organization." Newspapers would invariably run their photos. Shown is "Miss Perfect Profile." More info (and pictures of his models) in the hoaxipedia.I wonder what titles the Museum of Hoaxes could award? Miss Pareidolia? Miss Statement of Facts? Miss Informed?