Channels

Not a face, but soda
Photo: EPA

Report: Iranians fall for 'Pepsi in the moon' hoax

Thousands of Iranians fall prey to Internet rumors that Pepsi will shoot laser beams at sky to display logo on the moon, French news network reports

Thousands of Iranians looked up at the sky in the hopes of seeing the Pepsi logo appear on the moon on Tuesday night, France 24 reported Friday.

 

According to the report, rumors that have gone viral on Iranian websites and social networks in recent days claimed that Pepsi Co. was going to shoot powerful lasers beams at the moon to display the brand’s logo on its surface.

 

Some web surfers perceived it as a joke, while others bought the hoax. But the fact remained that at the designated time, scores have gone up to their roofs to look up at the sky.

 

"We got fooled," a Tehran-based journalist, Saed, told France 24. "I myself helped propagate the rumor and told people to check out the moon.

 

"I think about half of the people in Tehran and many other cities went up on their roofs at 11:30 pm," he said. "My colleagues and I gazed at the moon for several minutes and saw nothing! But we had a good laugh about it."

 

'Can't believe this happened'

Faria, an Iranian scientist, told the news network that she found it strange that so many people were duped into busting out their binoculars and telescopes on Tuesday, considering that the rumors primarily emerged from Facebook and were not covered by the media.

 

"Internet users in Iran are usually those who are the most educated," she was quoted as saying. "I can’t believe this has happened once again, 33 years after people went out en masse to see Ayatollah Khomeini’s face on the moon."

 

She said that during the Iranian revolution in 1979, before Iran's current supreme leader returned from exile, thousands believed that his face would appear on the moon.

 

Another journalist, Maria, hinted that she almost regretted dismissing the hoax so callously.

 

"Almost all of my friends went to the north of Tehran to a mountain from which they had a good view of the city of the sky," she said. "They insisted I go with them, but I preferred to stay home and watch a movie. They took cameras and camcorders to get photos and videos, but when nothing happened they started to have fun and drink Coca Cola for revenge!

 

"I couldn’t resist calling them fools, but they said, yes, we’re fools, but at least we had a great time together – and you missed it!"

 

 

 


פרסום ראשון: 06.09.12, 01:05
 new comment
Warning:
This will delete your current comment