Are any of you familiar with Improv Everywhere? They’re an improv/prank group in New York City. I have always thought it would be great fun to pull some similar pranks here in Lincoln. I have several in mind, some large, some small. Is anybody interested?
I don’t know. It just seems so deceptive. I’ve heard those guys on big-city radio show pull pranks and most of them seem harmless enough but some of them almost caused serious injury or property damage… like when a home owner and car driver over reacted to the prank because they thought they were in some sort of danger (and at the last moment the radio-dudes stopped the whole thing revealing the prank so the guy wouldn’t go ballistic on them).
I just don’t think it’s right or socially ethical. Sure many things can be done that would not be illegal but I think it puts a great deal of strain on the social fabric and upsets smooth balances. Granted some of these things can be done in good harmless humor, but I hear about too many pranks that borderline criminal and or harassment and some that could cause the receiving-party to react in ways that might cause them to inflict bodily harm in self-defense.
For example with that Best Buy thing. Yes it was funny to no end. And perhaps the managers over reacted. But things could’ve easily spiraled out of control if those “agents” weren’t so calm, collected and in control. If only one or two of them made a fuss the cops would have started knocking people to the ground and cuffing them and hauling them off for disturbing the peace. Then there would be a national story and lots of resources would have to be allocated to handling the whole ordeal (which would be a gross waste of tax dollars… and all for a prank).
I think pranks and situations of social amusement like this should be handled in organized ways and rendered to constrained geographical locations like Disney land or Spook houses.
I think you need the right group to pull off said pranks. If you do it with a feeling of maliciousness, then that’s likely to be the outcome. That’s the feeling I get when radio stations pull pranks- they’re doing it for ratings, and ratings go up if you can cause a sensation and make people mad. However, if you’re coming into the prank with a mindset of changing people’s viewpoint, at least a little, and laughing with people (not at people), it’s ok.
I think for some of these types of things, prank is the wrong word. Perhaps we should call them a “happening.”
How so? I contend the opposite: done well, they have the potential to be incredible builders of social capital, not destructors.
Karin - 09 October 2006 11:25 AM
I think you need the right group to pull off said pranks. If you do it with a feeling of maliciousness, then that’s likely to be the outcome. That’s the feeling I get when radio stations pull pranks- they’re doing it for ratings, and ratings go up if you can cause a sensation and make people mad. However, if you’re coming into the prank with a mindset of changing people’s viewpoint, at least a little, and laughing with people (not at people), it’s ok.
I had another thought. When entertainment is being extracted at another’s expense then there should be some sort of compensatory action towards to the victim (for lack of a better term). Because in a socio-psychological sense something has been taken from them. If something were given back then it creates balance, order and harmony again… IMarteducatedO. :D
I don’t see the point in the Best Buy thing. As if shopping there isn’t a big enough ordeal, now you have store employees dealing with this instead of helping customers. Maybe it’s the scale that I don’t appreciate. I have to say that I felt a little sorry for the supervisors who had to try to deal with the situation.
I think the prank thing can work, I just think there’s a fine line between laughing at someone and laughing with someone. The former is just mean.
To be honest, I’m not a fan of the Best Buy prank. But don’t focus on that one. Instead, take a look at their MP3Experimentseries; synchronized swimming; and no pants pranks. Those are much better and, importantly, much more likely to generate a positive observer reaction.
I just saw this one and thought it was a really clever one. A group of guys write a song about ordering food, and perform it at the McDonald’s drive thru, complete with a guitar accompaniment. The drive thru clerk’s blase reaction was kind of a letdown.
Also, I remember from a year or two ago, a large group of teens going into a Target and having a dance party, on Black Friday nonetheless. They tuned all the radios in the electronics department to one station and used an iPod with an FM Transmitter to pump through music. They even properly executed a soul train. I wish I could find the video for that.
I someone had played the Best Buy prank while I worked there, I would have been thrilled.
I’m sure the managers would not have been, but they generally take themselves too seriously anyway.
Staying out of corporations is probably best, especially in Lincoln.
I would love to prank the University - I have a feeling that, depending on the circumstances, they would be ok with it. (especially if it got them some publicity) You never can tell, though.
I would love to prank the University - I have a feeling that, depending on the circumstances, they would be ok with it. (especially if it got them some publicity) You never can tell, though.
But I’m always willing to entertain more.