Taco Bell Buys The Liberty Bell?

According to msn.com in 1996 a national hoaxes made headlines when Taco Bell annoced that it was going to buy one of America's famous pieces; which we recognize as the Liberty Bell. This clever scheme did not take long to gain attention, as soon as news anchors and national news papers covered the story. Taco Bell claimed,' that the company was buying the infamous bell to help with the national debt." To me I do not beleive that any fast food chain has the capitol to pay for such a piece of history. However, when headlines hit papers on April 1st, 1996 people believed everything they read.
In a matter of hours, editors were slammed with incoming complaints about this purchased which caused a huge stir among the people of this country.
The very next story that the papers and news anchors covered regarded the sale of the Liberty Bell as a hoaxes only to bring attention to the business. Which seemed to work, in one week Taco Bell's sales sky rocketed to over a half of a million. Seeing as how it was April Fools day not only did publicity and sales turn positive for the company, it has now made history as one of the best hoaxes ever played on this country.
I have a few concerns regarding this matter. One, I question our country and our ability to spread news. I believe that it is a very efficent form of communication and allows barriers for advertizing to be broke and is easily accessable to many people. However, this has made many of our citizens dependent on papers and national news stories. Many of us, I believe allow themselves to believe much of what they read without ever questioning the truth or common ground in the matter.
Second, how does this form of advertizing affect a company? In this cases it was a huge pay off for Taco Bell. Dispite this fact, not all advertizing is good; some advertizments damage companies and turn off peoples relationship whith that organization.
I ask you, how many times do you question a news story when it is published in national papers or viewed on TV? Do you put your faith into the integrity of others?