Shopping for electronics already feels like some kind of hidden camera prank, with staff who never want to help and rarely know a thing about the gear they’re selling. But an artist who refers to himself as Plastic Jesus — which apparently is not a gag — took things one step further by secretly stocking displays with a useless plastic box complete with a description of the non-existent product.
A closer look at the convincing fact sheet — that included points like “Another gadget you don’t really need” and “New model out in 4 weeks” — revealed the mysterious black box was indeed a fake, but presumably Best Buy, the US retailer that was the subject of the prank, was probably still happy to sell it.
The stunt was of course a commentary on consumerism and our endless drive to stock our homes with countless black boxes that rarely deliver as promised, and to encourage people to think twice about running out to buy what’s claimed to be the latest and greatest devices. But clearly Plastic Jesus has not heard of the next iPhone’s rumoured colourful case options, has he? Where do we line up? [Plastic Jesus via Cnet via Yahoo! News]
