Description: Photo hoax
Circulating since: May 2010
Status: Fake
Email example contributed by Shelby R., June 6, 2010:
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Arizona response
Many Californians are boycotting Arizona's new immigration law. Here is our reply: [see image above]
Phoenix, AZ
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Analysis: Hoax. What do you do when you're burning to get your political message across but can't afford a real billboard? Answer: fake it and forward it. Here we have a case in point.
The EXIF data embedded in this image reveals how and when it was created:
Software - Adobe Photoshop CS3 MacintoshNote the date: May 26, 2010. Compare the billboard's message to that of a Letter to the Editor published in the Arizona Republic on the same day:
DateTime - 2010:05:26 18:52:03
Here's an idea for a great billboard
May 26, 2010 12:00 AM
Arizona citizens should erect a billboard on northbound Interstate 10 just south of Casa Grande that says in Spanish: "Attention, illegal immigrants. Arizona does not welcome you. But Los Angeles loves you. Free housing. Free school. Free food. Free medical and hospital. No insurance costs nor taxes. Plentiful jobs. Turn left on 8 and follow your road to paradise."
- John Forster, Phoenix
Coincidence? I think not.
Cockeyed cacti and flimsy flagpole
If you need further evidence that the image was doctored, observe the inconsistency of the light and shadow on the three cacti in the foreground (detail #1). Not to be critical, but whoever created this image obviously did so in great haste. The original photo from which the leftmost cactus was ripped appears in the first page of Google image results for the search term "cactus."
Moreover, the flagpole on which the Arizona state flag flies (detail #2) looks like it was sketched in as an afterthought. The flag itself was snipped from the bottom of this Web page.
Last updated 06/09/10
