International Hollywood Star Registry

I am not exactly a fan of those companies that claim to sell stars. Given that the biggest, the International Star Registry, was issued a violation by the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs for using deceptive practices^*, you might just be able to figure out why. They mislead people into thinking they were actually buying official star names, when the truth is those folks were really just throwing money down the drain. You'd be better off printing your own certificate and donating the money to a local planetarium.

Sometimes, though, debunking is better done through satirical mockery, and that's why I'm happy comedian Brandon Muller told me about a video he made: The International Hollywood Star Registry. It's really funny!

Ha! And if you look closely, and read Ms. Wilkerson's Wikipedia entry, you'll see a familiar name...

[You might do better to watch the video in HD and pause the video at this point.]

If you want to read more about the ISR's shenanigans, you can look at their (legit) Wikipedia entry, or an article I wrote for CSICOP tearing them apart, or the chapter in my book Bad Astronomy doing the same.

^* I originally wrote that ISR was "convicted of ten counts of misleading advertising" but in fact it was issued a violation for deceptive practices.