Stun Fone Was A Viral Marketing Campaign

I missed the viral part of this video last week, but it's funny nonetheless. The video on YouTube was of an actor that was supposed to be a student from MIT that had developed a hardware device for the iPhone hat turned the thing into a stun gun. The Stun Fone product was apparently picked up by all sorts of major outlets like CBS News, the Wall Street Journal and more.

I can say from the writer's side of being tricked, that sort of thing can really piss off a writer. Some publications take geeks covering things that turn out to be fake very seriously, people can end up in trouble, and then there is the inevitable post to readers to tell them you were fooled. I have learned to loathe April over the years because companies tend to start posting fake products two weeks before and for the entire month after.

The fake product has supposed to make the iPhone into a 90,000 volt stun gun that could shock someone without really hurting them. The point of the campaign was to illustrate the power of a single idea according to the company behind it. All I can say is after getting fooled some outlets might be leery of anything that the company shows off in the future even if it is legitimate. Still, the product was interesting even if it was an utter lie. Check out the video below.