Marina Lapenkova

Long known for its rich history and elegant marble-lined metro, Moscow has suddenly discovered that it has a bad rap among foreigners — and is spending tens of millions of dollars to try and turn it around. "After all, Mickey Mouse is just a mouse with good publicity," said Veronika Khilchevskaya, a consultant working on the $27-million campaign to boost the Russian capital’s image.

Irina, a young consultant in a Western company, loves boasting to colleagues about her trip to Argentina and showing off her tan and holiday snaps. The only thing is: she’s never been there. And this doesn’t matter, according to the man behind this novel idea for arousing envy — fake trips with real side effects.