NPR's Morning Edition did a story on this today. CC's explanation is that these were merely "suggestions" and meant to be a "guide". One source inside of CC said, in effect, "yeah, right, 'suggestions' from a VP" another said that people would feel free to ignore them. In any event, it was not a hoax.
[I'm sure the story is on NPR's site someplace, but I can never find a fucking thing there I'm looking for so I ain't gonna look this time.]