Did this German guy really cut all his possessions in half after his divorce? The video below has gone viral, blowing up on Reddit, Time, and yes, Gizmodo. But the video is actually a marketing stunt from a German website that helps people find lawyers.
The man was supposedly cutting everything of value in half and selling the items on eBay as some form of revenge. We see him slice a TV, his chairs, and even an entire truck in half. But it was all just an ad, made to look like any other homemade viral video.
From a translated version of a news story in the German language Suddeutsche Zeitung:
Two days later is now clear: None of this was real. There is no Martin G., no Laura and no work colleagues. In truth, it is a guerrilla marketing campaign of the German Lawyers’ information, a consumer-law portal of the German Bar Association. On Saturday, the organisation expressed its commitment.
The aim was to attract more people into German law firms, so that they themselves – be advised of a possible divorce and protect legally – of course for a fee.
It’s easy to see where this website got its inspiration. Back in 2007 a German guy really did cut his house in half after a messy divorce. But here in 2015 we basically have to assume that everything on the internet is fake until proven real.
Those Einstein quotes? Fake. That baby photo of Charlie Manson? Fake. And that German guy who cut up all his possessions to take revenge on his ex-wife? Fake, fake, fake.