• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Guy goes into mall with an entourage, has friends suggest he's famous. (Video)

Status
Not open for further replies.
L

Lionel Mandrake

Member
Celebrity for the day.

Last Saturday we went to a popular mall in Virginia and conducted a bit of a social experiment. Using his real first and middle name, and with the help of just a few staged people, tons of people believed Thomas was a famous actor, including mall security. The mall assigned us a security detail who escorted us everywhere and helped close stores for the supposed celebrity. They also took us through private corridors to avoid the frenzy. Our cameras were quickly shut down, and most of our footage was captured with a single iphone. The following is just a taste of all the autographs, pictures, and people who wanted get close to all the commotion. Do something fun today.
Click to expand...
 
S

Steelrain

Member
Lol I used to do something similar with a bunch of friends when we would go to Myrtle Beach ,SC for Spring Break. I was suprised how well it worked. We just did it to pick up girls though.
 
T

teiresias

Member
Pegasoos said:
At the end of the video the girl on the phone seemed to ask if he was familiar with the Hampton-Roads area. Dunno if I heard right though.
Click to expand...

The mall looks just like MacArthur Mall (or maybe it's MacArthur Center) in Norfolk, VA, so that would make sense.
 
D

dragonlife

Member
I'm glad I don't understand the need to make your presence known to a celebrity. I suppose I'm just jaded. This video proves how desperate some people are.
 
bengraven

bengraven

Member
I hope he gets laid from this. Like "i'll do anything for you because you're famous" kind of celebrity sex. He deserves it.
 
R

Rubbish King

The gift that keeps on giving
facepalm1.gif
 
S

Sohter.Nura

Member
I thought people taking pictures with him who were obviously not the staged ones was hilarious. They wouldn't even know who he is, yet they wanted pictures of him! That's hilarious.
 
E

Exeunt

Member
Fascinating. Weren't there some children's TV shows that had a "convince everyone x protagonist is a celebrity" plot or was that always a case of a look‑alike? Either way, videos like this really do give an insight into how our culture will worship celebrity for the sake of it. I see there are some related videos (or at least one with a little too much Pussycat Dolls for my liking) that deal with the same concept and get pretty much the same results…
 
T

torta_smasher

Member
This seems like something a group of friends and I can have fun with if we gave it a shot lol But seriously though its crazy AND predictable that people would act like that when told someone famous is around the corner. That is America for you haha
I doubt that this stunt would work in a lot of places though
 
S

SCULLIBUNDO

Banned
The whole top floor of my local shopping center was packed with teenage girls yesterday waiting for Zac Effron who was attending the premiere here of whatever new piece of garbage he's in.
 
B

bishoptl

Banstick Emeritus
Sohter.Nura said:
I thought people taking pictures with him who were obviously not the staged ones was hilarious. They wouldn't even know who he is, yet they wanted pictures of him! That's hilarious.
Click to expand...
Had that happen in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico every day for a week (a decade ago when I was weight training hardcore). Randoms thinking I was in the NBA.
 
E

Exeunt

Member
btkadams said:
he was cute! it's not hard to understand people believing he was in a movie or something if they were told so.
Click to expand...

I suppose it's true that some people do have that "movie star" look to them; both the videos I saw did have attractive people pretending to be the celebrities. It would perhaps be more interesting to see an unattractive person try to pull off the celebrity thing and see how it pans out. Still, I don't really understand getting that excited about a celebrity you don't know… Unless you want an autograph or something to pawn off online that is.

torta_smasher said:
This seems like something a group of friends and I can have fun with if we gave it a shot lol But seriously though its crazy AND predictable that people would act like that when told someone famous is around the corner. That is America for you haha
I doubt that this stunt would work in a lot of places though
Click to expand...

The videos I have seen both took place in a mall… I don't want to play too much into stereotypes, but I imagine that there would be a fair number of teenage girls there on the weekends with their friends (social setting). These are the stereotypical "rabid fans" that one sees who would certainly play a large part in generating hype for the celebrities. Then again, I don't actually have statistics or whatever and I know given the selection of stores and whatnot that a lot of the mall demographic would be older… Just a bit of speculation beyond the American culture that could partially explain some of the response.
 
bengraven

bengraven

Member
bishoptl said:
Had that happen in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico every day for a week (a decade ago when I was weight training hardcore). Randoms thinking I was in the NBA.
Click to expand...

I'm picturing you grabbing a drink from a fountain and some people take pictures and you turn to them and are showing the Black Snake Moan face.



But yeah, as it was said in this thread, people are obsessed with celebrity culture. I suppose it's an evolution of the royalty and war heroes of our past. I was reading stories of the old west and men would pretend to be famous gunslingers to get free booze and cooze. Occasionally they would be figured out and hung or run out of town.
 
T

ThisWreckage

Banned
Scullibundo said:
The whole top floor of my local shopping center was packed with teenage girls yesterday waiting for Zac Effron who was attending the premiere here of whatever new piece of garbage he's in.
Click to expand...

That movie is so transparent and shameless. I can't think of the name, but the entire commercial is about two attractive leads embracing and kissing one another. I just shook my head.
 
bengraven

bengraven

Member
ThisWreckage said:
That movie is so transparent and shameless. I can't think of the name, but the entire commercial is about two attractive leads embracing and kissing one another. I just shook my head.
Click to expand...

I know what you're talking about. The one with the picture that the soldier finds? Yeah, the trailer is just them making out and taking showers apparently. I was wondering where the conflict was or if it was just softcore porn.
 
T

Tawpgun

Member
Did something sorta similar for my birthday.

Was walking around the Prudential Center in Boston while waiting for seats to open up at the Cheesecake Factory. Had all these peeps following me at one point.

392623_10150503758670915_594330914_11055059_1722224141_n.jpg
 
T

Takuya

Banned
All these people tweeting and with smartphones didn't bother even looking up who the hell this guy was? lol
 
B

B!TCH

how are you, B!TCH? How is your day going, B!ITCH?
That's hilarious, in the age of internet and smartphones I would've thought this would be impossible to pull off without getting busted eventually.
 
X

xbhaskarx

Member
B!TCH said:
That's hilarious, in the age of internet and smartphones I would've thought this would be impossible to pull off without getting busted eventually.
Click to expand...

The type of people who hang out at malls and are impressed by celebrities are too dumb to Google.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Ancient Roman figures brought to life via AI
Science 2 3
100
7K
Dirk Benedict replied
Starfield Q&A on Discord Details
15
2K
balls of snow replied
  • Locked
How The Last of Us became 'the greatest story' ever told in video games
Opinion Analysis 2 3 4 5
203
19K
Elysium44 replied
Starfield Devs Q&A Session
37
3K
Hendrick's replied
Manor Lords |Early Access OT| Good manors are made up of peasant sacrifices
|OT| Indie 2
76
4K
Rentahamster replied
Top Bottom