Media Design Program | Art Center College of Design

SPF Art Center

People Knowing

Group Members: Chiao Wei Ho, Petrula Vrontikis, Salvador Orara

How much information needed for one to believe the authenticity of an event?
If I would want to create something fake but believable, let's say a fake brand, I would include elements like a product, identity system and maybe commercial advertisement. In this experiment, we used a logo and a signature board that created a trap and made people to believe that was an actual petition for a swimming pool at school.

Before the experiment, we did not expect to get any signature because after all, what school really needs are more parking spaces instead of a swimming pool. Besides, how hard is it to find a pool in Los Angeles area. However, surprisingly we got tremendous feedbacks with lots people asked for updates. The trap was unexpectedly successful, it was quite shocking because simple elements could actually have people believe something that's not real. The result showed how media could easily play with actual facts. However, this experiment was not able to make a step forward after all because it seemed to us the test could lead to something serious.

In addition to the successful outcome, the most important experience from this test was that sometimes one has to know when to stop. The difference between to experiment and to lie to public was a fine line in this case. The moral issue should be taking into the consideration at all time.