Punked by lawyers: Video of 'divorced man' cutting stuff in half turns out to be viral stunt
A German man garnered the sympathy of millions from around the globe, after sawing in half his possessions following a bitter divorce. But the story appeared to be a fake created by German lawyers to raise awareness about need for marriage contracts.
A newly-divorced man, known as Martin G. decided to cut up all his belongings, including an iPhone and his car, as a parting gift to Laura, presumably his former wife, thanking her for “12 beautiful years”together and saying she had earned half of the household. He also claims that his ex had been unfaithful.
He then proceeded to sell ‘his half’ on eBay. A total of 16 items were put up for sale, while a video posted onto YouTube went viral, with more than 6 million views.
However, Martin G. was not heartbroken and in fact didn’t even exist. The whole event was staged by the German online legal magazine Deutsche Anwaltauskunft, which is an information portal for the German Bar Association. They wanted to draw more attention for the need to create marriage contracts to avoid potentially-bitter divorce settlements.
“The idea behind it was to humorously point to a problem that is not only relevant in Germany: Too few married couples take precautions for the case of a possible separation – for example with a marriage contract. The event of divorce then often ends in bitter fights under which not only cars and furniture suffer but especially the affected couples and their children,” the organization stated.
The association, with 66,000 members, is the largest collective of German and German-speaking lawyers and was delighted by the extra publicity it managed to gain.
“We are very pleased and would have never expected that our message could reach millions of people worldwide in such a short period of time. No one here expected the numerous interview requests about the fake story and fake divorced husband Martin G. from all parts of the world,” said Swen Walentowski, press spokesman for the German Bar Association.
The items are still on eBay and will be auctioned off with the proceeds going to charity. While the legal authority left a parting message saying: “The German Bar Association would like to apologize to everybody who was teased for that purpose. Hopefully, at least, you felt well-entertained.”
