Images: High-tech hoaxes and media mess-ups

Improv Everywhere is a New York-based group that uses e-mail lists and text messages to organize "scenes of chaos and joy in public places," like massive dance-offs and large groups of people riding the subway in their underwear. Most of the time, it's performance art. But sometimes it's not so obvious to passers-by that the pranksters' antics are fake.

On July 14, 2007, Improv Everywhere staged a "protest" of angry redheads outside a Manhattan Wendy's restaurant. They were, purportedly, claiming that the company's carrot-topped mascot was a bigoted depiction of redheads. While most people understood it as a funny take on political correctness gone awry, IE founder Charlie Todd says that YouTube footage of the event still occasionally gets misinterpreted. "It's really funny, because there've been a lot of comments like, 'This is the stupidest thing I've ever seen!'" Todd told CNET News.com. "It's like the prank continues to live on."