“Helmets of the Fatherland,” indeed. As the author of the prank noted later, “According to our legend, evil NATO troops are going to irradiate the Russian people. Our teachers must learn to resist this impact with simple means of protection, such as a tinfoil hat.”
Source: Moscow Times
In the Voronezh region, teachers from seven schools, following a false order, organized the “Helmet of the Fatherland” campaign, during which they made and put on tinfoil hats – for “protection from the effects of NATO satellites.” The author of the prank was Belarusian prankster Vladislav Bokhan, who sent out “orders” on behalf of “United Russia.”
Bokhan explained the gist of his joke on his YouTube show: “According to our legend, evil NATO troops are going to irradiate the Russian people. Our teachers must learn to resist this impact with simple means of protection, such as a tinfoil hat.”
To enhance the effect, the prankster used an old form with the United Russia logo and created an “order” through a neural network that he had specially trained in “bureaucratic language.” The document described the possible consequences of failure to follow the instructions, and also stated the goal of the action – “strengthening patriotism, increasing the awareness and skills of teachers in the field of civil defense, the ability to use improvised materials to create primitive means of protection in the face of threats from NATO.”
To make the “order” seem more credible, the prankster added a photo of people in tinfoil hats at a Moscow metro station, presenting them as participants in a similar flash mob at a school in the capital. The message also included detailed instructions on how to make the hats.
The campaign found a response in seven schools, including the Bobrovsky educational center “Leader”, Kriushinskaya secondary school No. 3, Kolodezyanskaya secondary school and others. In a video sent from the “Leader” center, one of the teachers called making hats an interesting creative activity and “an important patriotic act” symbolizing the readiness to defend the homeland from external threats. At the same time, she emphasized: the foil hat should become “a symbol of unity and resilience in the face of external challenges.”
