When Publicity Goes Wrong

Sometimes creative media ideas go wrong.  When they do, you get an incident like this. The publicist for a computer gaming company went to great time and expense to assemble a package that could pass for a safe — or a bomb.  How was a newsroom to know?  After the building had been evacuated, the device was pried open to reveal “a copy of Watch Dogs, a baseball cap and a beanie.”  There are those who say that any publicity is good no matter how you get it.  That theory is disproved in a case like this. Imagine the reception that the company is going to get in the newsroom going forward. Reporters and editors will remember the stunt gone awry and the first task of the company will be to overcome hostility.  File this case under “it seemed like a good idea at the time.”