Facebook Spiderpig group - the truth
Updated on 20 August 2007
When a group was set up on Facebook entitled: "If 100,000 people join, my wife will let me name my second child Spiderpig", the result was inevitable - writes PA.
The petition proposing a child being named after a pet pig character in the latest Simpsons movie attracted signatures like bees to honey.
Given the current popularity of the social networking website, members soon rocketed to well above the required number and founder, Oli Young, was under pressure to deliver
But to the disappointment of the thousands of people who joined the "Spiderpig" group, Mr Young, from Adelaide in Australia, has now revealed it was all a hoax.
The web developer posted a message on the group's page informing people the idea was just a practical joke.
He says: "I had just seen the "If 100,000 people join I'll name my kid Spider-Man" group, so we figured it would be fun to see what could happen with a similar, yet more ridiculous group. You know the rest. Yes. This is a parody.
"This was never more than a couple of bored geeks kicking around an idea. We hope you had fun, and a laugh, we really didn't mean to offend anyone and we hope you aren't too disappointed in the truth."
The married father-of-one has a daughter, called Amelie, but his wife is not currently pregnant and he says he would never be so irresponsible to call his child "Spiderpig" anyway.
He and his colleagues instead took delight in monitoring the success of their creation, which gained worldwide attention and coverage in the British media.
It became an experiment in viral marketing which worked solely by word-of-mouth, starting off in American high schools and ending up spreading to Europe and the UK.
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