The Old Pranksters of the ’60s and ’70s are upset that The New Pranksters of today aren’t subversive enough:
Improv Everywhere pranks have typically been aimed at the consumer culture. In one 2006 stunt, 80 people dressed in what looked like Best Buy employee uniforms — blue shirts and khakis — walked around in one of the chain’s stores in Manhattan, much to the confusion of everyone around them. Mr. Todd says a store employee called the police and the pranksters disbanded after the authorities arrived. Best Buy spokeswoman Susan Busch says the company “took it in good stride” and would only object if the prank interfered with customers shopping.Last year, the group sent 111 shirtless men into an Abercrombie & Fitch in New York City, in a spoof of the chain’s use of bare-chested hunks in its ad campaigns. The men (some fat, some thin) were told to say they were shopping for a shirt. Spokesman David Cupps says the company has no comment.
The group also sent more than 50 redheads to stand in front of a Manhattan Wendy’s and chant “No pigtails!” in a mock protest of what they said was the inaccurate portrayal of redheads in the chain’s ad campaign. Company spokesman Bob Bertini says the stunt was a minor distraction and showed people “engaging with the brand.”
In fact, some advertisers are starting to see the marketing value of pranks. Taco Bell recently hired Mr. Todd to stage a “freeze” in a new restaurant in Flushing, N.Y., where paid extras posing as employees and patrons simply froze in place, baffling the actual customers. The stunt was later used in a viral marketing campaign for the restaurant’s Frutista Freeze drink, and a video of the prank has been viewed 500,000 times online, says Taco Bell spokesman Will Bortz. “We thought it was brilliant,” he says.
I love the indignation of “serious” pranksters:
Some of Mr. Todd’s admirers objected, however. “Taco Bell killed the freeze,” says David Kartsonis, a 21-year-old video and TV producer from Redondo Beach, Calif., who helps organize events for GuerilLA. He says he won’t do the stunt now because it’s been overexposed. Mr. Kartsonis also complains that Improv Everywhere’s videos seem geared more toward viral popularity online than in-the-moment fun: “They spend a lot more time worrying about the end viewer. We focus on people who are actually there at the time enjoying it.”Mr. Todd says he did the Taco Bell stunt after the freeze craze had passed; freezes have already been performed in 50 countries, he says.