The Mannequin Mob

For our latest mission, we surprised shoppers and employees at the 5th Avenue Gap in Manhattan by giving the store 40 extra mannequins. Performers entered the store wearing white Morphsuits under Gap-style clothing. At the exact same second they zipped up their suits and froze in place next to the store's actual mannequins. Customers and employees laughed and took photos of the performance, but Gap security reacted by dialing 911. The police arrived and handcuffed many performers, but after assessing the situation, everyone was allowed to leave the store.

Created and Directed by Charlie Todd

Produced by Deverge

Music: by Tyler Walker

Producers: Alan Aisenberg, Andrew Soltys
Director of Photography: Ilya Smelansky
Camera: Alan Aisenberg, Denis Cardineau, Keith Haskel, Christine Ng, Ilya Smelansky, Andrew Soltys, Charlie Todd
GoPro Wearing Mannequins: Brady Kirchberg, Matt Pavlovich
Still Photography: Arin Sang-urai
Production Assistants: Juan Cocuy, Connor Dunlap, Kelley Dunlap, Alex Romanski
Equipment Provided by Morphsuits, Rode Microphones

This is one of over 100 different missions Improv Everywhere has executed over the past ten years in New York City. Others include Frozen Grand Central, the Food Court Musical, and the famous No Pants Subway Ride, to name a few. Visit our website to see tons of photos and video of all of our work, including behind the scenes information on how this video was made.

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[improveverywhere]

Fun fact: all of our participants were the same height for this one. Women were 5'10" and men were 6'1" to match the height of the Gap's mannequins.

[dropout]

Nothing's better for business than reacting to a joke with public arrests.

[YourOneAndOnlyGeorge]

"I don't know officer, they're just standing there...menacingly"

[MitchellWiggs]

I don’t think everyone was taught what 911 is for when they were little, it’s not for this...

[MediocreFilms]

There are people standing in my store!! IMMA CALL DA COPS!!!

[clary]

Why. The f*ck. Do you call 911 if there is a goddamn flashmob!?

[RiptideKuroki]

“Hey officer could you please arrest these mannequins, thanks.”

[FangsofYima]

arresting them caused more of a disruptive scene that the prank did

[FunnyOrDie]

When that Gap employee said "We have a flash mob inside of the Gap" he meant to say "We have a flash mob inside of the Gap, and it's delightful. This is an emergency of fun. Hurry."

[ashleejayde]

Just imagine the police accidentally cuffing a real one for a second haha

[zeliumite]

Oh these people are attracting more people to our otherwise barren store AND brightening up everyone's day? Obviously call the cops on them then!

[SharlenesJourney]

We have a flash mob inside of gap lmaoo

[demyp]

Rumors say a cop is still trying to arrest the real mannequins

[Sethernet]

You’re honestly calling 911 for a non emergency. Someone that’s in actual serious situation could be on hold because him.

[mollyh.]

Um well apparently flash mobs are now illegal. They weren't disturbing the shoppers or doing any harm, and they were advertising the clothes for the store. Arresting them was unnecessary, they were being entertaining.

[KyleLi]

If the gap employee didn't call 911 and overreact this would have been a great publicity stunt for gap...

[grant]

Just imagine all of these mannequins chasing you down a street

[loneberry]

Why do these things always end up with an employee calling the police? These people not doing anything wrong and if you have a problem with what they're doing just ask them to stop/leave. No need to overreact and call the cops, jeez.

[benpicado]

He called the police... You know there's a really good form of communication it's called talking. I heard if you just say something along the lines of "May you please leave, this is distracting and this isn't really a good place for this" people might actually just go away

[eduardbutkaliuk]

The legend has it there is still one more maniquen who wasn't caught, still standing there