How good does it feel to find something on the internet that you can rage about? That reinforces your previous preconceptions and prejudices of the world, of a group of people, of a company, of one person specifically? But how likely is it that this is just a hoax or an exaggeration meant to rattle up some righteous anger?
It's very very easy to be deceived by the internet (okay, not such a news bulletin), and it's interesting how much more likely people are to believe something they've seen or read on the internet from an unknown source than something they've been told in an advertisement. I think this is because people understand the motives behind advertising and are suspicious how they are being played for revenue, and because a lot of advertising in the past has been dishonest. But at the same time, companies are accountable for what they present to the public, anonymous internet users are not.
But take this interesting hoax that just broke over the weekend (yes I'm late)
This picture started circling around the internet and twitter.
This turned out to be an obvious hoax, having originated about a year ago from the 4chan forum site. The whole hoax never became as big as it could have, thanks to quick response from McDonald's. It convinced a ridiculous number of people though (and I will admit myself as well), simply because it's so fantastically wrong, so unexpectedly unfair, and against a strong company whose reaction would be very intriguing.
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