May Moments That Really Packed a PR Punch
May’s departure might have snagged most of May’s headlines, but the month wasn’t without its PR surprises. From burger bitchiness to a flower-filled train, here’s our round-up of last month’s best PR moments. Don’t forget your anti-histamines.
Tinder teasing turned on its head by ASOS
We all know Tinder has its fair share of unsavoury characters. But 20-year-old Thea Chippendale endured a particularly mean exchange over a picture of herself posing in her new ASOS dress. A malicious match named George dubbed the pink frock as “awful” and went on to describe it as a “charity shop job”. Not one to be perturbed, Thea posted a screenshot of the exchange on Twitter, to a tsunami of viral support.
After almost 100,000 likes and 7,000 retweets, ASOS got on the case and contacted Thea, asking if they could use her photo on the product page for the 75 quid dress. “I can’t believe something so negative has turned into something so positive,” she said. Good work ASOS. Up yours, George.
Banksy-style self-combusting vampire posters
The Passage is an American TV series by Fox, set within a dystopian vampire future. To promote it in Sao Paulo, the marketing team decided to print up a bunch of posters that dramatically burst into flames when the sun rises. You know, like vampires. Featuring creepy vampire faces, the posters were designed with a special flammable coating, and were placed on the streets within protective glass cases to avoid burning passing walk-of-shamers.
The effect was pretty impressive, but whether anyone actually saw them is another matter entirely. Either way, the show was already cancelled after just one season in America.
Does my bum look rubbish in this?
Daisy May Cooper (off BBC Three’s ‘This Country’) got all the rags in a tizzy at the BAFTA TV Awards by wearing a dress made entirely from rubbish. The Gaga-like ensemble was fashioned from black bin bags, and featured a dramatic train adorned with excessive waste. She finished the look with a dustbin purse and a pigeon on her head.
Designed by Daisy’s mother, the outfit was apparently worn in a bid to highlight food wastage, with the money she would’ve spent on a designer frock going to a food bank instead. While we approve of the message, we’re still waiting on a verdict from Tinder’s George.
Flower Powered Public Transport
To celebrate and promote the 2019 Chelsea Flower Shower, a carriage on the Heathrow Express train was dolled up with a spectacular display of pink and purple hydrangeas, wisteria and lavender. The 3000-plus flowers were installed within four hours by eight green-fingered people.
As a Heathrow Express rep said: “The Chelsea Flower Show is one of the biggest events of the year but not everyone gets the chance to experience it so we wanted to give travellers a little taster.”
Burger King becomes the Queen of Shade
Burger King served up some Joan Crawford-level shade last month. The target? McDonalds obvs. In an ad campaign to promote the restaurant’s children’s parties, Burger King printed up adverts featuring real-life photographs of distraught children being hugged by clowns.
The strapline was simple, but genius: ‘Come to Burger King and book a clown-free party’. The brilliantly bitchy campaign was the brainchild of Spanish marketing agency, LOLA Mullenlowe. Marcelo Pascoa, BK’s head of global marketing said: “Burger King knows that birthdays are a very big deal for kids and we believe they should be fun and clown-free. We prefer to be on the good side of children’s memories not the scary ones, like the traumatized kids in these ads.” Bravo.
McDonalds goes super-small
Last month, McDonald’s Sweden promoted their sustainability efforts when they unveiled the ‘smallest McDonald’s in the world’ – a cutesy miniature model of one of their restaurants, which also happens to be a fully functional beehive. Packed with detail, it features little drive-thru windows, little Maccy D’s signage, and little chairs and tables. Little gangs of disruptive youths and little terrifying clowns were noticeably absent however.
Named the McHive, it was thought up by Scandinavian agency Nord DDB and built by set designer Nicklas Nilsson. Whether any bees took up residence and got fat we don’t know, but it was eventually auctioned off and made over $10,000 for charity.
