Penguin quietly hoodwinked readers this week, taking out a fake advertisement in the newspaper about Charles Elton’s debut novel, Mr Toppit.
The advertisement, supposedly filed by fictional characters in the novel, warns readers not to believe anything written about them in the book. Reportedly, a few members of BBC’s Breakfast Show fell for the joke, and the Guardian posted about the whole fake controversy.
Here’s more: “Our review last weekend wasn’t entirely positive – and perhaps tellingly warns ‘beware the hype’ – but my interest has certainly been piqued enough to pick up the copy that’s been lying on my desk for weeks.” (Via Derek Cameron)