Gold-plated barbed wire which promises 'protection from migrants' causes controversy
GOLD-PLATED barbed wire which promises protection from migrants, burglars and animals caused controversy at a trade show in Vienna.
GOLD plated anti-migrant barbed wire creates controversy
The shiny barbed wire which was displayed by 'Happy Homess' at a trade event on Saturday promised to deliver both peace of mind and style.
Two models of barbed wire were available, the standard ‘Schengen’ wire which costs £42 (€50) per meter and the more luxurious gold plated ‘Secession’ wire at £213 (€250) per meter.
The wires also come with an added electric shock function.
The barbed wire attracted a huge amount of attention at the Trade Fair for Building and Energy on Saturday, despite the product not being real.
The barbed wire was created in a social experiment to see how the public would react
Customers were not aware that the ’Nato barbed wire’ was a social experiment carried out by actors who wanted to test the public and find out whether the fictional product was appealing.
Peter Tappler an actor at the theatre group ‘Stahlglatt & Blumeenweich’ performed as Managing Director of ‘Happy Homes’ and warned the wire is "a bit sketchy".
He said: “You need to do that bit in secret, so that you don't get into conflict with the law.
“Especially if somebody is touching it, a fatality could occur. In this case, you need to take care of the difficulties yourself.”
The 'Nato barbed wire' claimed to be able to keep houses safe from migrants
In the footage the wire can be seen on display at the Vienna event with people enquiring about the product in the background.
Mr Tappler added: “You can install it in your garden, if you are careful, the usage of the fence and its high-voltage power is a bit sketchy.”
A sign can also be seen at the event alongside the barbed wire stand reading “Super Security System”.
We wanted to find out how visitors of this exhibition react to such offer
Mr Tappler, who even created a website as part of the performance, explained that they created whole stand to see the reaction from the public in Vienna.
“We are doing this, because we want to continue the discourse about security technology and calls for higher security," he said.
“We wanted to find out how visitors of this exhibition react to such offer.
“This offer is absolutely fictitious. The offer in reality does not exist.”