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In 'Czech Dream,' two Czech film students became intrigued by how consumer culture had taken over their nation since the fall of communism in 1989. So, funded by a government grant, they launched an all-out media blitz for a new 'hypermarket' (think Super Target or Wal-Mart). It included unbelievably low prices, teasing ads and a hokey jingle that sounds like Celine Dion singing 'We Are the World.' - Publicity shot

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Oh, those crazy kids.

A few hoaxes, a few pranksters here and there might seem like mere mischief, when indeed they can tell us more about us than we would like to know.

That became apparent last week when an Irish student put a fake quote on Wikipedia and watched as journalists worldwide pulled it right off the site and into their news stories about the death of composer Maurice Jarre.

The sociology student didn't just do it to be mischievous; he wanted to look into how information is transmitted around the globe and how the hurried media rushes to get its information. That's not a new notion, there's a long and growing trend of films that use pranks or hoaxes for social or political experiments. What people reveal about themselves when they fall for something makes a powerful message that filmmakers are eager to capture.

One in particular sprang to mind in light of the Wikipedia fiasco: "Czech Dream," a documentary that played at the Wisconsin Film Festival in 2006.

Two Czech film students became intrigued by how consumer culture had taken over their nation since the fall of communism in 1989. So, funded by a government grant, they launched an all-out media blitz for a new "hypermarket" (think Super Target or Wal-Mart). It included unbelievably low prices, teasing ads and a hokey jingle that sounds like Celine Dion singing "We Are the World."

The twist? It wasn't real. Thousands showed up for the grand opening, which turned out to be just the facade of a store. The filmmakers managed to dupe an entire nation.

It's an amusing film, particularly because the filmmakers make such outlandish claims about this store and its prices that it seems impossible anyone could take them seriously. But people all over the world believe the unbelievable, as evidenced by another guerrilla prankster film, "The Yes Men" (2003).

"The Yes Men" didn't target fellow citizens, however. It went after a bigger target -- the World Trade Organization. Fed up by seeing the WTO harm the nations it was supposedly created to help, the filmmakers impersonated WTO staffers on television and at business conferences. They made outlandish proposals, such as banning siestas or serving hamburgers made of human waste in Third World countries, and were taken seriously nearly every time.

"The Yes Men" was made by Milwaukee filmmakers Chris Smith, Sarah Price and Dan Ollman and played at the Wisconsin Film Fest in 2003; a sequel, "The Yes Men Fix The World," is currently making the rounds at film festivals.

The prank film is becoming enough of a genre in itself that last year, a Pranks Film Festival was held in San Francisco. One featured film was "Abel Raises Cain" (2005) about legendary prankster Alan Abel, who hoodwinked the media for decades, beginning with a campaign to clothe naked animals for the sake of decency (which he championed on the "Today" show in 1959).

The festival also featured the self-proclaimed Reverend Billy, a fire-and-brimstone preacher (actually an actor) who rails against consumerism in shopping malls and at big-box stores, as seen in the documentary
"What Would Jesus Buy?" (2007).

Documentaries don't have the monopoly on this. Richard Gere played the faux biographer of Howard Hughes in
"The Hoax" (2006). A NASA mission to Mars is faked in "Capricorn One" (1978), a more believable notion today than the actual casting of Elliott Gould, Sam Waterston, Telly Savalas and O.J. Simpson. A beautiful family film, "The Education of Little Tree" (1997), was adapted from a book that had been part of a literary hoax; the supposed memoir of a Cherokee orphan was actually written by a Ku Klux Klan member who also had penned George Wallace's famous "Segregation Now" speech.

And the hysteria created by the most famous hoax of all, Orson Welles' radio play of "The War of the Worlds," is recreated in a vintage performance available on DVD. "The Night America Panicked" was first broadcast in 1957, and featured Ed Asner and Warren Beatty. It's available on one of the releases from "Studio One," the CBS drama anthology series.

Certainly, Sacha Baron Cohen didn't make this stuff up with "Da Ali G Show," "Borat"  and the upcoming "Bruno." He just gave gullibility a bigger audience. But as long as people get suckered, the prank films won't be going away any time soon. Believe it.