No, this Fisher-Price Happy Hour Playset isn't real
Adam Padilla, the Co-Founder and Director of Branding for BrandFire, is responsible for the latest bit of fakery to flood the internet.
Luckily, this time it's all in good fun.
Padilla made an image of a Fisher-Price Happy Hour Playset in Photoshop; the playset supposedly features a bar, stool and plastic beer bottles for kids to play with.
Padilla likes to post humorous original images on his Instagram account adam.the.creator – and this has been one of his most successful posts.
"My 21 month-old daughter gave me the idea while playing on her kitchen playset at our apartment," Padilla told Mashable. I mentioned to my wife, Willow, that it would be hilarious if a major toy company created a bar set for toddlers.
"The next day I Photoshopped the package design and posted it on my Instagram with a caption that made it seem like it was an actual product. Many of my fellow 'meme friends' like black_humorist, thedailylit and highfiveexpert got a kick out of it, but it really took off the next day when someone posted it on Facebook and Reddit."
Most of the responses Padilla has seen have been positive ones -- with many social media users wishing it were a real product.
"The reaction has been absolutely incredible," Padilla says. "Most people recognize that it is a joke, and think it is hilarious. Many of my close friends have seen it passed around their individual social circles with comments like, 'you should buy this for your nephew!' It seems that people really got a good laugh, which is awesome."
Some parents even posted on Fisher-Price's Facebook page, urging the toy manufacturer to consider the fake product.
Of course, some people didn't realize the playset was a joke, and expressed their shock on Fisher-Price's Facebook page.
Padilla was pleasantly surprised by the toymaker's response.
"Fisher-Price even issued a release that recognized the humor and assured parents that they are not involved in the parody," he told Mashable. It's refreshing to see a major brand so hip to culture that it took the joke in stride and reacted in a very human way … with reason, humor and intelligence. But overall it has been a lot of fun to see the story go national."
There's a serious side to this fake product news, however. Padilla thinks it is an important reminder of how it's important to be vigilant on the internet.
"It goes to show the power of the internet to take a story viral," he says. "The right mix of pop culture and realism, with a bit of technical skill can really send something around the world pretty quickly.
"It’s amazing to see and hopefully can inspire some creative thinking out there. Most importantly, I feel like it’s crucial to scrutinize what you see online and not be too quick to accept things as factual just because you saw them posted someplace.
"Use your judgement and be smart about what you read. A lot of this is just common sense."
Topics Photoshop
Sophie was a Viral Content Intern for the Watercooler channel. More writing and other stuff by Sophie can be found at www.sophiehirsh.com.
