Air Force One gets tagged!

[CingularDuality]

www.StillFree.com

Very interesting. There's a surprise ending, once you've watched the videos, though...

[Wyzcrak]

Heard about this this morning. No time to watch the video at the moment. Forgive me if this is the surprise ending:

http://www.snopes.com/photos/airplane/tagging.asp

[CingularDuality]

Originally Posted by Wyzcrak

Heard about this this morning. No time to watch the video at the moment. Forgive me if this is the surprise ending:

http://www.snopes.com/photos/airplane/tagging.asp

Yes, that was the surprise ending. I just wanted people to get the full effect of the videos before finding out that it was a hoax. Hopefully, they'll watch the videos before reading the rest of this thread...

[munchkin]

I'd be extremely impressed if this was actually true.

[Wyzcrak]

I didn't get up this morning to ruin anyone's fun. I'm sorry.

I was hoping the surprise ending would be something more.... surprising, as claims of someone "tagging" Air Force One being exposed as a hoax seems more like an inevitability than a surprise.

That plane carries our leader and represents our nation to the world. I wouldn't take much satisfaction from a prank movie of someone vandalizing the White House or the Capital Dome, and I'm not impressed, or entertained, by this publicity stunt built around a fictional compromise of national security.

[Boot]

The fun surprise will be when Mr. Mark Ecko tries to get on his next plane, and discovers he's on a watch list. That should be hours of fun at every waypoint and destination on the map!

[munchkin]

Recipe for Web hoax: a rented 747, a paint job, and video camera

By TED BRIDIS, Associated Press Writer

Last Updated 4:47 pm PDT Friday, April 21, 2006
WASHINGTON (AP) - A startling Internet video that shows someone spraying graffiti on President Bush's jet looked so authentic that the Air Force wasn't immediately certain whether the plane had been targeted.

It was all a hoax. No one actually sprayed the slogan "Still Free" on the cowling of Air Force One.

The pranksters responsible for the grainy, two-minute Web video - employed by a New York fashion company - revealed Friday how they pulled it off: a rented 747 in California painted to look almost exactly like Air Force One.

"I wanted to do something culturally significant, wanted to create a real pop-culture moment," said Marc Ecko of Marc Ecko Enterprises. "It's this completely irreverent, over-the-top thing that could really never happen: this five-dollar can of paint putting a pimple on this Goliath."

The video shows hooded graffiti artists climbing barbed-wire fences and sneaking past guards with dogs to approach the jumbo jet. They spray-paint a slogan associated with free expression.

After the video began circulating on the Web on Tuesday, the Air Force checked to see whether the plane had been vandalized.

"We're looking at it, too," said Lt. Col. Bruce Alexander, a spokesman for the Air Mobility Command's 89th Airlift Wing, which operates Air Force One. "It looks very real."

Alexander later confirmed that no such spray-painting had occurred.

Ecko acknowledged Friday that his company had rented a 747 cargo jet at San Bernardino's airport and covertly painted one side to look like Air Force One. Employees signed secrecy agreements and worked inside a giant hangar until the night the video was made. Ecko declined to say how much the stunt cost.

"It's not cheap," he said. "You have to be rich."

What bothers me is that they actually had to check to see whether or not it had been vandalized. Hopefully, if someone was actually able to tag the plane it wouldn't go unnoticed for long.

[Diceman]

I'd be impressed with the cajones it would take to execute this if it were real. While watching the video, all I could think was that this was a massive breach of security. What if, instead of a can of spray paint, it was a bomb attached to an altimeter?

I also couldn't understand, until I saw Wyzcrak's link, why Mark Ecko didn't have about 19 federal agents and MPs piling on top of him while filming his "Why I tagged Air Force One" video.

But, now that I see that it's a hoax, I wonder what the point of it all is...

[munchkin]

I'd have to go with publicity as the motive for this - attention in the news creates more awareness of his brand and video game.

[DudeMan]

Originally Posted by Diceman

I'd be impressed with the cajones it would take to execute this if it were real. While watching the video, all I could think was that this was a massive breach of security. What if, instead of a can of spray paint, it was a bomb attached to an altimeter?

hmmm in reality if he actually triet to do this, he would be shot before he reached the outer perimeter. so big cajones or not... they would soon be wormfood cajones.

i agree with wyz, when i saw the clip and even the title of the thread, (which i did before i read the forum) all i wanted to see was what video editing software they used or something like that... i have to say i didnt for one second think that thei was a real stunt.

oh and whoever mentioned the watch list... congrats... good point this guys is going to find it harder to travel than sadam hussain.

[CingularDuality]

Originally Posted by Diceman

But, now that I see that it's a hoax, I wonder what the point of it all is...

Did you watch the second video in the first link that was posted?

www.StillFree.com

[Diceman]

Yeah, I did. I guess I just don't see the connection.

[CingularDuality]

Originally Posted by Wyzcrak

...I'm not impressed, or entertained, by this publicity stunt built around a fictional compromise of national security.

I'm often impressed by the stupidity of some people. Maybe stupidity is too harsh of a word in this case, though. Gullibility? Is that a word? Naivety? Fleeceability?

[Wyzcrak]

Yeah, I hear what you're saying. I guess I don't need something this insulting to understand how stupid so many of our fellow humans are, you know?

Give me the wrong change when I check out. Let me get home and open the DVD case holding a movie I didn't rent. Let me throw on my brakes as you "merge."

But leave my national security out of your marketing games, ok?

[Chewy]

Haha... no one actually believed that was real.. did they? There weren't as careful as they should have been in making that look real... it was amusing though.