At the beginning of the 2010s, a series of images went viral on the internet for a rather unusual reason: they showed supposed models photographed using X-rays, revealing their skeletons while they posed as if for a pin-up calendar.
The photographs quickly caught the attention of thousands of users, who were fascinated by the strange concept.
In the images, female figures could be seen in calendar poses, wearing accessories such as high-heeled shoes, but showing only bones and internal structures, as if they had been captured by an X-ray machine.
The project was attributed to a Japanese company called Eizo, dedicated to manufacturing medical monitors, which used the images as part of a striking promotional campaign.
For years, many people believed that the photographs were authentic X-rays of real models.
However, it became known that the images were not real X-rays.
In reality, they had been digitally created using editing and rendering techniques, designed to simulate the appearance of an X-ray scan.
Even so, the phenomenon was so striking that the photographs continued circulating for years on blogs, social media, and curiosity websites, becoming one of the most talked-about visual hoaxes of that era.
More than a decade later, the so-called “X-ray models” are still remembered as one of the strangest and most viral advertising campaigns that managed to fool the internet.
Here are the rest of the images:
