Reuters has a wrap-up of some of the wackier gas-related stories of recent weeks, including the Nevada Brothel’s free-gas-card offer, a church that’s holding a weekly $50 gas card drawing during mass, and an Orlando father who pledged to name his baby after local radio hosts in order to collect a $100 gas card. There’s also some gas thieves in Mesquite, Texas, who are siphoning from church vehicles, but that’s not so much a “wacky stunt” as a type of criminal “preemptive charity.” (“”All he had to do was come and ask us and we would have bought him a tank of gas,” said the pastor of one church.)
stunts
Chrysler Execs To Call New Owners To See How Things Are Going
By 5.11.08
Chrysler has extracted the DNA of our executive email carpet bomb and used it to create a weird new outreach program: starting next week, 300 Chryslers execs will each call a different recent purchaser of a Chrysler, Dodge, or Jeep vehicle and ask if there are any problems. According to Cars.com’s blog Kicking Tires, they’ll keep doing this “until Chrysler chairman and chief executive officer Bob Nardelli is satisfied that if his customers have troubles, their problems will be fixed. Nardelli, by the way, is going to make the calls, too.” That last sentence—well, really the whole idea—becomes funnier when you know where Nardelli once worked.
The Stupid Spirit Airlines M.I.L.F. Sale Is Back
By 4.18.08
The first time around the promotion featured an illustration of islands cleverly arranged in the shape of a buxom female figure, and a spokesperson who, aw shucks, had no idea (none! really! honest!) what M.I.L.F. stood for. Spirit even went so far as to claim that there is no way they could have known what M.I.L.F. meant because the executive who approved the promotion is “British.”
Dr Pepper Promises Free Soda For Almost Everyone In US If Axl Rose Will Release "Chinese Democracy" This Year
By 3.27.08
Yeah, it’s a PR stunt—but a funny one, especially because the only two people excluded by Dr Pepper’s pledge are “estranged GNR guitarists Slash and Buckethead.” Someone in the Dr Pepper PR department really likes Axl Rose. Rose says neither he nor his label are in cahoots with Dr Pepper, and that he’d share his drink with Buckethead because “some of Buckethead’s performances are on our album.”
There Is A Guy Living In The Paramus, New Jersey IKEA
By 1.9.08
Remember that one guy who decided to visit all the Starbucks in NYC in 24 hours? Yeah, we’d forgotten about it, too. He’s convinced IKEA to let him live in their Paramus, NJ store for a week while his apartment gets fumigated.
Gee Whiz! The Starbucks "Cheer Chain Phenomenon" Might Be A Lame PR Stunt
By 12.19.07
Some cynical people, (not us, mind you) are starting to suspect that the news stories popping up all over the U.S. about Starbucks “cheer chains” might be planted by Starbuck’s PR team.
Walmart Pulls Superbad DVD Featuring Fake Hawaii "McLovin" License
By 12.7.07
Walmart has pulled copies of the Superbad DVD that contained a promotional “McLovin” Hawaii license after Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann objected to the item. The “license” appears to be made with a lenticular lens, and when viewed at different angles shows either Fogell or his ever-sexy alter-ego, “McLovin.”
Man To Run NYC Marathon Carrying Textbooks To Protest High Cost Of College Texts
By 11.1.07
We know how much our readers hate expensive textbooks, so meet Andre Ditto, the 47 year-old vegan personal trainer who is going to run the NYC marathon carrying 30lbs of textbooks both to protest the high cost of college textbooks and as a promotion for ebook retailer CaféScribe.
Virgin America Is Trying Too Hard
By 9.28.07
According to OK! magazine, Virgin America will be hosting “the first-ever supermodel in-flight pajama party this November,” with the Victoria’s Secret models. No, you’re not invited. Yes, someone else is. Yes, that person probably has a camera.
