Tag: publicity stunt

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How Not to Pull Off an Art Stunt…

Pop Artist Arrested For Gatorade Prank Involving Tiger Woods and Wife Elin Nordegren
blogs.wsj.com
by Evan Perez
January 13, 2010

tigerdrinks-200Federal authorities arrested a Colorado man who allegedly relabeled bottles of Gatorade with pictures of golf star Tiger Woods and his wife Elin Nordegren and the word “unfaithful” as part of a pop art stunt.

Federal prosecutors in Denver on Wednesday charged Jason Eric Kay, 38 years old, with misbranding and altering food labels.

“From the onset, our primary concern has been the safety of our consumers and the integrity of our products,” said Karen May, a Gatorade spokesperson.

According to an affidavit signed by a Food and Drug Administration criminal investigation agent, Mr. Kay, an unemployed artist, bought one-quart bottles of Tropical Mango flavor Gatorade at stores in the Denver area and relabeled the bottles with labels he created using a photocopier at Kinko”s. The bottles were unopened and the product inside wasn”t tampered with. The bar codes functioned. The new label contained a Yahoo email address to contact the artist. The bottles were put on store shelves in the Denver area. Continue reading “How Not to Pull Off an Art Stunt…”

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Skaggs, Blags and Rags: Hoaxes and the Press

Submitted by Mark Borkowski from Borkowski Blog. Mark is author of The Fame Formula: How Hollywood’s Fixers, Fakers and Star Makers Shaped the Publicity Industry

Skaggs, Blags and Rags: Hoaxes and the Press
October 16th, 2009

If you want proof that stunts are an art form, your best bet is to head down to the Tate Modern”s Pop exhibition and take a long, hard look at the Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons exhibits. Here are two prime examples of early stops at one of the stations of the cross of Consumerism, part of its steady progress to becoming the prime 21st Century religion.

And proof is needed that stunts are an art form – they are making something of a comeback at the moment, but the latest examples – the Starsuckers film and Balloon Boy – are in need of a bit of spit and polish if they are to really shine.

http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/js/2.0/video/evp/module.js?loc=dom&vid=/video/bestoftv/2009/10/16/cb.balloon.boy.cnnEmbedded video from CNN Video

Despite all this, there has been not one mention of the master of the hoax, Joey Skaggs, the master Culture Jammer whose hoaxes have always had a pertinent point to make. This is a pity because the Starsuckers team could learn a trick or two from him. Continue reading “Skaggs, Blags and Rags: Hoaxes and the Press”

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Edinburgh Festival’s Greatest PR Moments

From Mark Borkowski:

A good stunt certainly relies on taking risks… The aim is to engage people and make them laugh or exclaim with astonishment, whether they see the stunt or read about it in the papers. You’ve got to push a stunt as far as it will go without actually hurting people

Cunning stunts: Edinburgh Festival’s greatest PR moments
by Mark Borkowski
The Independent
9 August 2009

Edinburgh old-timer Mark Borkowski pays tribute to one of the festival’s finest art forms: the publicists’ tricks that propel certain performers centre stage

1a_231878d-200This is the year to celebrate the festival stunt – the quick and naughty publicist’s plaything, constructed to achieve mass media attention. Publicity stunts have always been a vital ingredient of the Edinburgh Festival mayhem. They bring a creative flourish and give the shows life outside the rarefied Scottish climate.

Some have suggested the stunt is an endangered species, but I believe it is an art form as relevant as any performance on view in August, so I have set up a Twithibition to celebrate great stunts of the past. Each one has been captured in poster form by the design god David Hillman, based around photographs by Geraint Lewis and located at the home of the original stunt.

Click here to launch Mark Borkowski’s Top 10 Stunts. Continue reading “Edinburgh Festival’s Greatest PR Moments”

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Bruno v. Eminem: Speaking of Your Anus

Update: Bruno’s prank revealed — “Bruno” and “Eminem” MTV Movie Award stunt was Staged, confirms Philip Odegard and others, Reuters, June 2, 2009

Believe it or not: Bruno (Sacha Baron Cohen) invites Eminem to kiss his ass during the 2009 MTV Movie Awards, May 31, 2009, bringing to mind Pamela Anderson’s fake scenes in Borat.

http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:uma:video:mtv.com:395464

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International Fantasy Hair Competition

Much ado about a ‘do: Competition sees hair as art
1010WINS
April 28, 2009

Fantasy Hair CompetitionManchester, N.H. (AP) — Once the province of shopping mall mavens, gum-snappin’ waitresses and Amy Winehouse, bouffant was in and big hair was beautiful, if only for one night.

The ladies – and one gent – of the International Fantasy Hair Competition proudly wore their hair hats high in the name of art and a good cause.

The competition attracted stylists and their models from around the country with prizes ranging from $1,000 to $7,500. All proceeds from Thursday night’s hair-art show at the Verizon Wireless Arena went to the New Hampshire Food Bank.

In the final minutes before the show began, stone-faced stylists put the finishing touches on their chicken-wired and pomaded masterpieces. What emerged from the piles of discarded Styrofoam clods and noxious clouds of hairspray were divas with heads decked out in pink lilies, forests of furry trees, and coifs of cotton candy.

Top honors went to model Amaris Brown of Detroit and stylist Kevin Carter of the Detroit suburb Farmington Hills for “Proud Peacock,” a big spray of feathers with hair shaped into what looked like the bird itself.

But the real secret to being a big bouffant beauty? Continue reading “International Fantasy Hair Competition”

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