30,000 people fall for ComputerTan hoax

By Johnny Daniels
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

This is overwhelming proof that people really will fall for anything they hear and read.

A UK skin cancer charity called Skcin wanted to raise more awareness of the medical condition so they set up a fake website called ComputerTan.   This site promised people a suntan from nothing more than the heat rays from their PC monitors while they type. You can feel “tan-tastic!”

But the 30,000 people who were gullible enough to click on the link for more information were instead confronted with pictures of people with tumors and were given statistics and facts on the condition.

All in all, this is a pretty slick, savvy and humorous marketing campaign and since it managed to hit the news headlines in the UK, it seems to have done the trick.   It’s hard to believe though that anyone seriously thought that they were going to get a suntan from their PC monitor!


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