VaevTissue, also known as simple Vaev is a fictitious corporation and website created as an Internet hoax. The site purports to offer used tissues, allow the user to "get sick on your terms." The company claimed that by catching a cold, users would be protected against more serious illnesses, such as the flu. Created in 2019 (though claimed to have originally been created in 2017), news of the company was picked up by international media outlets, including CNN, Time and The Guardian. It was later revealed, however, that the site was created by comedian Mekki Leeper, posing as a Danish CEO named Oliver Niessen, with the stated goal of seeing how gullible Americans are when it comes to dubious alternative health products.
History
editVaevTissue was originally conceived by Mekki Leeper as an idea for Control Room, a special aired on Comedy Central. Leeper pitched the idea to Viacom, which took a long time to develop due to its delicate nature. He eventually came up with the idea of marketing used tissues after seeing the amount of publicity given to raw water despite it being difficult to pin down the actual size and success of the company that marketed it. Upon doing so, on a budget of less than $1,000, Leeper and his team created a website, focus groups and a fake promotional event. They then sent press kits to numerous media outlets, eventually being granted an interview by Manky Oaklander, a reporter with Time. Leeper pitched the product through a series of phone interviews, and the story was eventually published on January 18, 2019.
Oaklander's article expressed a number of doubts regarding Vaev, among these the fact that the product simply wouldn't work as advertised, the fact that Niessen refused to supply even basic details about the company such as the company's incorporated name, and that mailing infectious substances through the U.S. postal service is illegal except under very specific circumstances.
Despite the skepticism expressed by Oaklander, the story was quickly picked up by various major media outlets and went viral. Many of these outlets reported on the company as if it was entirely real, expressing none of the skepticism shown by Oaklander or even referencing the original article. Among the outlets who reported the story as being true or mostly true were the New York Post (later retracted) (https://nypost.com/2019/01/24/you-can-now-buy-these-snotty-virus-infested-tissues-for-80/), CNet (https://www.cnet.com/science/this-startup-has-an-80-dirty-tissue-to-sell-you-seriously/) (expressed skepticism at the product's effectiveness, but not at it being "sold out"), Yahoo! Lifestyle (interviewed several professionals who expressed skepticism at the product's effectiveness, but reported the company itself as real) (https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/pre-infected-80-tissues-claim-help-prepare-flu-season-heres-doctors-say-193559027.html) The story was also picked by the websites of various local news stations.