Tuesday, 9th of March 2010
PR stunt leaves shoppers short-changed
The promise of free cash was too good to resist for shoppers in Manchester, and turns out it was also too good to be true.
Hundreds of people were invited to grab what they thought was £5,000 of free money as it was thrown over a balcony in the Arndale Centre. But the crowd’s excitement soon turned to disappointment when they realised most of the cash was fake.
The PR stunt, organised to promote the DVD release of gangster film Dead Man Running, might have left shoppers non too-pleased but it still managed to make national headlines.
Not a bad way to generate some free publicity.
However, publicity stunts are risky, and often miss the point. This latest example succeeded in attracting attention, but will it encourage people to run to the nearest shop to buy the DVD? I’m not convinced.
