Lets Talk Hoax

So do you know of any real hoaxes that were carried out and successful? Well there were some people that just recently pulled one off in Amsterdam, and it worked for exactly what they wanted.  Yes that’s right…It worked!!!

In the summer of 2011 some squatters took over an unused building that had once been an animal shelter. They began renovating it into a social and cultural center for the neighborhood on the outskirts of Amsterdam.  They called it Opde Valreep “In the Nick of Time”. The corporation OCP, in charge of it though, had let the building sit for years. They wanted to kick the squatters out and the local council said it was powerless to fight the corporation. So the squatters took matters into their own hands. With the help of others a hoax was set in place.

First the squatters printed up 7000 copies of a fake neighborhood newspaper that they distributed all around, that gave great news: the city council had decided to oppose OCP and will give the building to the neighborhood in a big public ceremony in a few days. The squatters also made a fake OCP website. (The city council put a warning on its website about the newspaper and the website, but nobody seen it).

Then they invited the community to a gifting ceremony, to be presided by the city council. For the ceremony the squatters wrapped the building in blue ribbon with a gift card addressed to the neighborhood. Many of the community showed up for the ceremony along with various journalists and politicians. The speech begins and a (fake) OCP businessman interrupts and announces that they have made their decision. Many in attendance were disappointed to find out it was a hoax. But, it increased their desire to see the site used for a good purpose and not just sit there.

The whole event made it to a top article in the Amsterdam section of Amsterdam’s biggest news paper. In the article a REAL politician argued that the building should indeed be given to the neighborhood. Thus making the neighborhood more active and engaged within their community. 

If a small group of people could pull of a small hoax that people really believed…what would keep a really large group of people from pulling off a really big hoax? BeLIEve.