"Jenny" the HOPA, Job-Quitting Girl a Hoax. Duh.

A message from "Jenny"

America got a lesson in media theory this week. It won't be remembered, though, at least not by anyone who stands to benefit from it.

The 33-image pictorial story of an attractive woman quitting her job (and getting back at her chauvinist boss) with messages on a dry-erase board, which went viral to the tune of 250,000 Facebook shares, was a hoax.

You know, like the story of Donald Trump leaving a $10,000 tip on an $80 restaurant bill from the very same tricksters. And the story about an 18-year-old girl accidentally texting her dad about losing her virginity - also from the same tricksters.

Oh, and "balloon boy". But October was so long ago.

(CBS didn't cover the Jenny-quits-her-job sensation. - much.)

Peter Kafka at All Things Digital was rightly skeptical of the prank before it was exposed. Although as of 2 p.m. Tuesday afternoon, one of the pranksters was still insisting that "Jenny's very real."

In truth, "Jenny" is an aspiring actress named Elyse Porterfield who answered an ad placed by the image site the Chive, which posted the photos.

The part I didn't get was about how "HOPA" was supposed to stand for "hot piece of a**" - but only when "Jenny" shook the dry erase board to jumble the letters to the unpronounceable "HPOA." And if the guy thought no one was listening, why wouldn't he just say it? Weak sauce, the Chive.

Except we bought it. Which the Chive pretty much isn't letting anyone forget.

But don't worry. We will.

[Dina1080]

Internet sensation, Dry Erase Jenny is back and using her notoriety to help teachers and students this back-to-school season. Actress Elyse Porterfield has partnered wiht EXPO Dry Erase Markers and the Kids In Need Foundation to get the word out about how people can help donate school supplies to teachers in low-income schools. Check out the link below.

http://******/DryEraseJenny

[tsigili]

This simply shows how totally inaccurate and manipulated the media has become. News????? Forget that......it is simply pure entertainment.....and in the financial news especially, you see pure contradictions, on a daily basis.

Obviously, we don't have real news anymore.....just tabloid sensationalism, to turn heads.

[WillowSunstar]

I completely agree. Journalism as we knew it is dead.

[realestateguy10]

HOPA girl did a great job promoting herself...Look at all the publicity she has gotten. Check out this real estate blog that did a unique spin on this story! http://*******/uf82l

[Infosourcer]

So, is Steven Slater, the poster child for employee abuse at Jet Blue, for real? Hard to distinguish reality from 15-second fame seekers.

But is is entertaining!

[workerdroid]

Wow. Here I thought the floods and the plane crash in Alaska were big news. Then I read this story. Boy, they're all pale by comparison.

[Jhihmoac]

Social networking and the internet...The good, the bad, and the crazy...

[Charlieot2]

Obviously another case of the failure of the liberal media!

Seriously, this simply highlights something the news media and the rest of us have to grapple with in today's connected world...
Verification of sources and information...
Information, good and bad, is propagated so widely and so quickly that by the time it can be verified, the information is stale...
or in the case of the media, competitors must be presumed to have the information, rendering the verification pcess too cumbersome to be effective...
Just my $.02

[PVperson2]

I'm surprised you didn't throw in a "it's Obama's fault".

[sassyliberal]

Get a life, loser. The media is FAR from liberal. Do your research...Oh wait, that would be too difficult for someone like you. Carry on then, idiot.

[jnostromo]

Just another example of the facebook, twitter , my space wasteland...

[fedup12]

There has to be a song lyrics in there somewhere.

[vm7488-2009]

Garbage.

[NewsJunkie2010]

It's "HPOA" not "HOPA."