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E-mail brings together flash mob at NY toy store
New York, Aug 10: It`s become a case of mob rule in New York.
New York, Aug 10: It's become a case of mob rule in New York.
A growing flash mob craze -- when crowds organized by e-mail turn up in unexpected places -- brought a mob late on Thursday to the flagship Times Square store of Toys "R" Us, where a giant dinosaur roars menacingly at customers.
The mob of some 300 people gazed at the dinosaur, as if transfixed, then fell to the floor screaming and waving their hands in the air. As store staff hurried to call security, the mob dispersed as quickly as it gathered.
The flash mob was the sixth in New York and the latest in a string that has popped up around the globe. Organized by e-mail, recipients are invited to arrive at a certain place, at a certain time, and receive instructions for a particular mobbing event.
On Thursday evening in London, Britain's first flash mob -- a crowd of more than 200 people -- marched to a furniture store selling sofas with instructions to make mobile phone calls in which they praised the merchandise.
The New York-based Mob Project started in June with a man named Bill who sent an e-mail to some friends. Since then, it has spread across the nation and to many cities in Europe.
Europe's first flash mob hit Rome last month when a group gathered at a bookshop and peppered staff with queries about nonexistent books.
At Toys "R" Us in New York, Maria Peters, a tourist from Texas, said, "They just picked me up off the street and gave me directions.
"It was just like a big mind game," she said.
Other New York sites that have been mobbed are Central Park, where the crowd tweeted like birds and crowed like roosters, and a Hyatt Hotel, where the mob burst into applause.
Organizers like to remain anonymous but say the fun of the flash mob is its absurdist, inexplicable nature. However the flash mob could just be a flash in the pan, they say.
A man who seemed suspiciously like an organizer and gave an obviously false name said after the Toys "R" Us event: "Unfortunately all the media coverage, it's going to just destroy the cachet sooner or later.
"You can imagine that the next one or two ... people are not going think its cool, it's not really a happening, it's a media event," he said. Bureau Report
The mob of some 300 people gazed at the dinosaur, as if transfixed, then fell to the floor screaming and waving their hands in the air. As store staff hurried to call security, the mob dispersed as quickly as it gathered.
The flash mob was the sixth in New York and the latest in a string that has popped up around the globe. Organized by e-mail, recipients are invited to arrive at a certain place, at a certain time, and receive instructions for a particular mobbing event.
On Thursday evening in London, Britain's first flash mob -- a crowd of more than 200 people -- marched to a furniture store selling sofas with instructions to make mobile phone calls in which they praised the merchandise.
The New York-based Mob Project started in June with a man named Bill who sent an e-mail to some friends. Since then, it has spread across the nation and to many cities in Europe.
Europe's first flash mob hit Rome last month when a group gathered at a bookshop and peppered staff with queries about nonexistent books.
At Toys "R" Us in New York, Maria Peters, a tourist from Texas, said, "They just picked me up off the street and gave me directions.
"It was just like a big mind game," she said.
Other New York sites that have been mobbed are Central Park, where the crowd tweeted like birds and crowed like roosters, and a Hyatt Hotel, where the mob burst into applause.
Organizers like to remain anonymous but say the fun of the flash mob is its absurdist, inexplicable nature. However the flash mob could just be a flash in the pan, they say.
A man who seemed suspiciously like an organizer and gave an obviously false name said after the Toys "R" Us event: "Unfortunately all the media coverage, it's going to just destroy the cachet sooner or later.
"You can imagine that the next one or two ... people are not going think its cool, it's not really a happening, it's a media event," he said. Bureau Report