Prankster Replaced Billboard Ad with His Own Photo and No One Noticed | “Better Than the Original Model”

TikTok content creators are notorious for going to extreme lengths in their videos just to gain followers, likes and go viral. But among every type of TikTok user, the pranksters are the most daring ones. According to Insider, one TikTok prankster Michael Drake recently decided to sneakily replace a billboard with his image during the night.
Surprisingly enough, no one could detect the switch between the actual ad billboard and the prankster’s picture even after six weeks. @michaeldrake11 is a popular video creator on the platform and he shared a crazy video on June 13, 2023 where he executed his stunt. In the voiceover of the clip, he explained that “he has always wanted to be on a billboard, so he decided to try to sneak himself onto an existing one,” hoping no one would notice.

Drake picked an Australian outdoor and camping store called Anaconda to carry out his prank. The billboard outside the store featured a male model posing by a river. Drake then showed himself measuring the sign and copying the posture of the male model to recreate the photo in a similar location as seen in the official ad. But printing out the image in an accurate size did not prove to be cheap as Drake showed in a heavily-censored part of the footage.
The estimated cost of the printing was $244.35. He had to assemble the print which came in three separate pieces since it was a huge billboard. Michael Drake and his team of helping hands finished sticking the fake ad print over the original billboard at night. At the end of his viral video, Drake said that he came back the next day to find that the fake billboard was still up. Now, all they had to do was wait and see how long it took someone to notice the switch and remove it.

Drake's viral billboard prank video gained over 10 million views and many claimed in the comment section that “Drake’s photo was better than the original model on the billboard.” The prank gained enough traction to catch the attention of the Anaconda store’s official TikTok as well, where the store said that they were impressed by the stunt and will stay in touch with Drake. The TikTok creator responded to the store’s comment with a follow-up video which gained another 1 million views. Drake visited the billboard site multiple times but was surprised to see the fake ad still standing up where he placed it. Who knows, maybe the store will sign him up to be an official ambassador pretty soon.