GTA V Launch Gimmick Goes Sideways When Heavily Armed Cops Show Up
from the blurring-the-lines dept
It’s incredibly easy to do sales/launch promotions horribly wrong. My favorite example is still when Nestle thought that putting tracking devices in their candy wrappers and then hunting people down to give them crap was a good idea. Those with less in the department of good intentions can take things from funny to creepy, such as a pizzeria trading free pie for boob-flash-ery. The point is that you have to make sure you cover all your bases and don’t do anything stupid, otherwise you can expect someone to game the system, mock a flaw, take your promotion the wrong way, or send the cops to shoot you. Wait, what?
Must have been a Dunkin Donuts promotion, huh? Hey-ohhhh!
Image source: CC BY 2.0
No, it wasn’t pastries involved in this raid, it was video games. More specifically, Grand Theft Auto 5, because of course it was. In any case, apparently a retailer in France thought it would be a fun stunt to have their staff dressed up like criminals, thugs, and gang-bangers for the game’s launch. The costumes, of course, required replica handguns. Humor, of course, required that passersby immediately call the cops, which resulted in 15 officers descending on the store and scaring the hell out of everyone.
Apparently the retailer forgot the key step of informing local authorities that they were going to be brandishing fake weapons while committing public commerce. You kind of can’t do that, unless you want your business on display in all the wrong ways.
Comments on “GTA V Launch Gimmick Goes Sideways When Heavily Armed Cops Show Up”
How much does anyone want to bet
That the talking heads on cable news are going to try and hold this up as proof of video games being a corrupting influence on children?
And here I thought this might be about the fake crack stunt I heard about.
They got 5 stars pretty quick, they need to find a spray shop asap!
turndowntheheat
Stupid is as stupid does.
Re: Re:
How original.
I love things when they go wrong, it teaches us all what to do and how to do it.
Yes some are creepy, but how would you be 100% sure if you didn’t try it out? also there is the forth dimension, things are time relative meaning going to Comic Con and seeing a lot of elfs brandishing swords could bring the inquisition to your doors in other times, today not so much.
When there is a time that people don’t kill each other with guns anymore(maybe they use other stuff) this would probably be a no brainer and fun way, in todays world, you have to notify authorities, an inconvenience, but one that I would endure for the sake of safety.
Still a fun, if not for any other reason just to get some laughs out of the people who forgot or where not aware of all the possibilities.
“Publicity stunt makes headlines, product name clearly mentioned”…
I’d say: Mission accomplished
Re: Re:
Yep.. Most likely intentional, but even if it wasn’t it would just be a bonus not a mistake.
doh
what would be a real pisser is, if the store actually did everything right including informing the authorities, but then a gang of criminals did really rob the store, using less than fake hand guns!
Well in all fairness the flashing for pizza was an pretty good idea. I flashed my man-boobs and they gave me a pizza as long as I agreed to never do that again.
gta iv
At one point i was ranked in the top two hundred, worldwide. That acomplishment required substantial skill and time. What did i get for it? The satisfaction of saying: “how proud i am to be a frenchman when i behold the triumpal column!”
At least it shows they’re into the games and up for having some fun. This would make me want to buy from them if I lived nearby.
Person of Interest
Something similar happened in NYC this week, except involving the TV show PERSON OF INTEREST:
http://www.tmz.com/2013/09/18/person-of-interest-tv-show-shut-down-new-york-city-guns/
Now the question is, how many times have we seen several criminals properly dressed with heavy equipment storming into game stores while people were happily asking them for information on games and the likes. When you live in a society driven by fear that’s what you get. Still, they could put a warn that it was just a joke for the easily scared ones.
I think it is reasonable that someone would think these video game store employees were raving lunatics trying to hurt people.
Haven’t you heard all of the moral panic lately about video games causing these events? Clearly, it is prudent to assume that a number of heavily armed men and women in a video game store have racked up enough time playing first-person shooters to be of major concern.
They should of had a shoot out. Imagine the publicity this would have gotten then!