I'm not sure exactly, but we have seen a  similar situation before. For example, a April fools joke where we were jokingly selling Bitcointalk merch. However, it was implemented a little differently, he basically took back all merit that was spent in that thread. I'm sure if that's possible, it's likely that he could implement it not to show merit, or even not allow it to be sent if a url matches a certain one. I'm not exactly sure the implementation of merit on the forum, so that's just speculation on my end. I'm not even saying theymos would do it if it was possible, but I think it could be worth asking potentially. At the end of the day it's an unofficial event, and the amount of merit being distributed is rather small, so on that side of things he probably doesn't see the problem. I'm coming at it from a integrity of a vote point of view, which again isn't really his issue. Although, as suggested before I like the idea of the event, I think it promotes good habits within the community, and could prove beneficial in getting the community a little more tight knitted, which I do believe we've lost over the years.