Tricks and jokes in Mass media

We are used to think that mass media is only for some kinds of programs as:
soap operas and films on TV,
monotonous music on radio,
news, advertisment, talk shows and so on.
But only few people know how to use mass media to laugh at other people.
Here are some facts of such tricks.

Swiss Spaghetti Plantations, BBC 1957
BBC told a story about Swiss farmers enjoying a bumper spaghetti crop.
“Spaghetti, picked earlier in the day, dried in the sun, and so brought fresh from garden to table at the very peak of condition. For those who love this dish, there’s nothing like real home-grown spaghetti.”
Hundreds of people phoned the BBC wanting to know how they could grow their own spaghetti tree.

Stockings and Color TV,
Sweden, 1962
Kjell Stensson, a “technical expert”, explained
how to make black-and-white TV sets colored.
«Like I said earlier, the viewing distance is of
utmost importance. You should experiment with
moving closer and further away from the set to
get the correct color impression. In order to
assist you, we have prepared a calibration card.»
Many Swedes today remember their parents
rushing through the house trying to find nylon
stockings to place over the TV set.

Here is BBC trick some people really believed this joke and discussed it a lot on different forums.
Fans of Linux liked this clip a lot because penguin is Linux logo.
The clip wasn’t just a joke but also an advertisement of BBC iPlayer.
Flying penguins, BBC 2008

Washing the Lions
Many people in London received this
invitation 150 years ago.
No lions had been kept in the Tower for decades.
Visitors have been sent to White Gate (there is no such gate in Tower).
This joke was first reported in a newspaper more than 300 years ago:
“Yesterday being the first of April, several persons were sent to the Tower Ditch to see the Lions washed”
Dawks’s News-Letter, April 2, 1698.
TOWER OF LONDON
Please to Admit Bearer and Friend
to view the
ANNUAL CEREMONY
of Washing the Lions,
on Wednesday, April 1st, 1857.
Visitors admitted only at the White Gate.

Kitten or Husband?
In this newspaper advertisement
one woman says that she will give
a kitten or a husband to good home
because her husband doesn’t like
cats.
“Come see both & decide
which you’d like”.