Hoaxing Bambi

This entry was published at least two years ago (originally posted on July 18, 2003). Since that time the information may have become outdated or my beliefs may have changed (in general, assume a more open and liberal current viewpoint). A fuller disclaimer is available.

The jury’s still out on this one, but I’d be willing to bet that the Hunting for Bambi ‘business’ (in which men dress up in camo, grab paintball guns, and go running through the woods ‘hunting’ naked women) is nothing more than an elaborate spoof. While most media reports have been long on hype and short on investigation, the Urban Legends Reference Pages are extremely skeptical.

We’re still investigating, but we’d be quite surprised if this scheme was hatched as anything but an attempt to sell videos. (After all, \$19.99 tapes and DVDs, and not \$10,000 hunts, are the product advertised on the site’s opening page.) Our estimation is that the whole “hunt” concept was a phony promotional dog-and-pony show staged for credulous reporters, but now that Hunting for Bambi has attracted plenty of free publicity from the media, they’re attempting to make the concept work for real.