‘I hope this isn’t a marketing stunt.’ The destructive art of hacking attention—and what comes after

At first glance, it’s just a middle-aged man eating a mountain of steak chunks at Arby’s.  Look closer, though, and you start to notice something strange about this already supremely strange scene. The video, posted last October, came from a group of pranking young dudes who call themselves the Arby’s Boys. The account has posted hundreds absurdist videos—a car filled with Arby’s curly fries (caption: “Idk what to do”); an Arby’s cashier taking an order while playing with a finger...