What would you do for the promise of a couple pieces of free clothing? Just think of all the college freshmen who signed away their financial futures by applying for credit cards at orientation (before such marketing was outlawed). A line of 100 or so shoppers in San Francisco may not have to worry about ruining their credit score, but photos of them shivering in their skivvies will probably follow them forever. [More]
stunts
PETA Sends Case Of Soy Milk To PR CEO Who Threatened To Fire Next Person Who Doesn't Replace The Milk
By 10.3.11
Today PETA sent a case of soy milk to Beckerman Public Relations CEO Keith Zakheim, who last week generated buzz for sending around an email that threatened to fire the next person in the office who finishes the milk in the staff refrigerator without replacing it. I don’t care what kind of milk people choose to drink, but tweaking aggro CEOs is funny. [More]
Man Who Torched Car To Save Home Ends Up In Court
By 3.24.11
A Utah man had a bold plan, which we told you about last year. His house was going into foreclosure unless he could come up with $21,638.02 to pay HSBC. So he announced to the world that he would burn his car and post the video online in exchange for donations. He raised about $15,000 and even sold $1,200 worth of advertising on the side of the car. He tried to work with local fire departments to get them to let him burn the car, to no avail. So he did it on public land and now he’s in court and getting fined, reports KSL. [More]
Chef Fined For Licking Toads In The Kitchen
By 8.17.10
The chef at a Japanese restaurant in Iowa was fined $335 after health department officials watched a video of him licking and kissing toads, then putting them in his mouth and then back on the prep table, in the restaurant’s kitchen. His brother taped the stunt and posted it on Facebook. [More]
Man Who Offered To Set Car On Fire Saves Home
By 7.27.10
The guy who offered to set his car on fire in exchange for “loanations” (his word–he says he’s going to pay back all donations) managed to raise enough money to prevent the foreclosure sale of his house yesterday. Below is a video of him handing over a check for $21,000. The only problem is, now he’s saying he might not burn the car. [More]
Man Offers To Set Car On Fire To Save Home From HSBC Foreclosure
By 7.26.10
John admits on his blog that he’s responsible for falling six months behind on his mortgage. But once he got over his divorce and losing his adopted son and started trying to make things right, he ended up in loan modification limbo at HSBC. The bank never moved forward on any modification, and now he has to pay $21,638.02 today if he wants to keep his house. Logically, he’s offering to burn his car and post the video online in return for donations. [More]
Stone Brewing Co. Discovers Its Beer Mustard Is Missing The Beer
By 6.28.10
In addition to pale ales, Stone Brewing Co. sells mustards and sauces made with beer. Last week, in a blog post titled “MustardGate 2010,” the company announced that it recently discovered its mustards were beerless. (Or as they describe it, those mustards are “instant beer mustards–just add beer!”) The real mystery is what happened to the beer; the brewer says the kegs sent out to the mustard company were sent back empty. [More]
Town Prints Its Own Money To Get Locals Shopping
By 6.7.10
Last month, a business improvement group in Ardmore, PA issued $15,000 in local currency, which citizens bought at half the face value and which can be spent like real money in stores and restaurants in the downtown area. Strangely, despite the 50% savings promised only $2,900 of it has been spent so far, with thrift stores receiving more than any other type of business. The group is going to launch another money printing campaign in November to try to boost holiday sales, preferably of new things. [More]
Man Seals Self Inside Foreclosed Home
By 5.4.10
Now we finally understand the secrets of the pharoahs: a bunch of angry people in Stony Ridge, Ohio have sealed up a home with the homeowner inside, with his permission, leaving only a golf ball-sized hole in the front door. The man, Keith Sadler, says he fell behind last year after paying on his mortgage for 12 years, and that his bank promised to work with him but instead proceeded with foreclosure. [More]
The KFC Double Down: What A Restaurant Does When It Gets Desperate
By 4.19.10
It seems like the best promotional campaigns for KFC in the past few years have been on South Park, and that’s despite the fact that Cartman is the chain’s most vocal supporter. An AdAge article today points out that Chick-Fil-A has been eating KFC’s lunch for a while now, and so far every stunt KFC has pulled–name changes, PR-engineered recipe events, botched giveaways, getting Oprah’s blessing–hasn’t stopped the restaurant from losing customers.That’s right: your lack of interest in KFC is what created this bundle of cheesy fried-fried in the first place. [More]
Mass Homeopathic Overdose Planned For Tomorrow!
By 1.29.10
In a little less than 12 hours, over 300 skeptics throughout the U.K. will protest the homeopathic medicine industry there by deliberately overdosing on full bottles of homeopathic pills, which technically don’t contain any molecules of the active ingredient. The group’s goal is to highlight the fact that homeopathic cures are about as scientifically valid as your horoscope. I’m all for stunts, but don’t they know that they’ll likely suffer from the memory of an OD? That’s how this stuff works, you know. [More]
Man Eats Windows 7 Themed 7-Layer Whopper
By 10.27.09
For some reason, possibly because they have the same ad agency as Burger King, Microsoft has convinced the fast food chain to offer a 7-layer Whopper in celebration of Windows 7. What is a 7-layer Whopper? It’s just a Whopper with 7 patties.
Is It Really So Hard To Believe That Tony Stewart Likes Whoppers?
By 9.29.09
Tony Stewart is a NASCAR person. He likes Whoppers, so he endorses them. The concept of a celebrity liking the product they endorse is so alien to us that BK’s ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky is apparently planning to hook Mr. Stewart up to a lie detector on a live webcast and ask him if he really likes Whoppers.
Customer Visits Verizon CEO's Home, Gives Him A Taste Of No Privacy
By 7.22.09
John Hargrave of comedy site Zug.com tracked down the personal info of Verizon’s CEO, then showed up with a bullhorn to illustrate what a lack of privacy feels like. “Ivan Seidenberg! I’m here on behalf of Verizon customers. PLEASE DO A BETTER JOB PROTECTING YOUR CUSTOMERS’ CELL PHONE RECORDS! Everyone has the right to privacy, including you Ivan! When we don’t have privacy, then freaks with bullhorns start showing up on our front lawn.”
Buy A Car, Get A Free AK-47
By 7.17.09
The logo at Mark Muller’s dealership is… an old west caricature pointing two pistols at those who pass by. He said it’s a nod to what he calls “big city” ways. “We really are different than the big city dealers.”
Don't Draw Genitalia As Your Signature When Paying Via Credit Card
By 2.3.09
After accidentally scribbling nonsense on a verification screen and seeing that it didn’t trigger any alerts, Kingpin at DrunkRepublic decided to start goofing around with his signature when using his credit card. It led to some fun times for a while. Then it backfired. (Warning: the image after the jump is cartoonishly NSWF in a Comcast-at-the-Superbowl sort of way.)
Virgin Atlantic Asks Complaint Writer To Be Taste Tester
By 1.28.09
The man who wrote the long, funny complaint letter to Richard Branson about the level of suck on his recent Virgin Atlantic flight has been asked to “come to the airline’s catering house next month, to help select the food on future Virgin flights.” Yeah, we know that it’s a publicity stunt, but an entertaining one. We hope the customer agrees, and hates the new food just as much. In fact, we wish he’d replace Toby Young on Top Chef; the dead hamster line would be a pretty good put-down on that show.
