Office hours

Read the article. “Publicity at any price”.

A. Read the article quickly. Match the stunts to their intended audience.

1) The peanut protester	a) music fans
2) Anything is possible at Harrods	b) people who are concerned about the environment
3) Michael Jackson on the Thames	c) people who prefer Coca-Cola
4) Earth Hour	d) a politician
5) The colour of Pepsi	e) people who have a lot of money to spend

В. Read the article again. Which of these statements are true, according to the article?

1 Mark McGowan wanted to draw attention to the amount of money he owed at the end of his course.

2 The Harrods customer bought a helicopter from the store.

3 Harrods weren't able to fulfill all their customers' wishes.

4 Since the launch of Earth Hour, the number of people taking part has doubled.

5 Public buildings and spaces all over the world have taken part in Earth Hour.

6 Sony used a similar campaign for Michael Jackson's CD in different countries.

7 Pepsi wanted to promote a change in the formula of its drink.

8 Pepsi devised a range of stunts in its campaign.

Have you ever wondered how far some people will go to get noticed or to make their point? There are hundred of examples of publicity stunts but here are just five that really caught the public's attention.

1. THE PEANUT PROTESTER

In September 2003, Mark McGowan created massive media interest when he took two weeks to push a peanut across London, using only his nose. The protest against his student debt started at Goldsmiths College and ended at 10 Downing Street, where Mr McGowan delivered the nut to former Prime Minister Tony Blair. He asked Mr Blair to accept the nut as payment for his debt.

2. ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE AT HARRODS

A team from luxury department store Harrods used over 600 metres of paper to gift-wrap a helicopter in September 2006. The helicopter was chartered from Air Harrods by a customer who wanted to take his partner on the trip of a lifetime. The customer asked for it to be gift-wrapped to make it extra special. The stunt was filmed to help promote the launch of Harrod's 'Anything Is Possible' season.

3. EARTH HOUR

In 2007, Sydney, Australia saw the launch of this campaign:o raise awareness of climate change. 2.2 million homes and businesses turned off their non-essential lights for one hour. Since then, this event has captured the public's magination with up to 50 million people across the world taking part. Global landmarks like the Golden Gate Bridge m San Francisco, Rome's Colosseum and the Coca-Cola billboard in Time's Square have all stood in darkness.

4. MICHAEL JACKSON ON THE THAMES

The release of Michael Jackson's CD History was marked by his record company, Sony, by floating a huge statue of the artist down the River Thames in June 1995. This was part of a massive promotional campaign costing $30 million. There were a total of nine statues used in countries throughout Europe as part of the campaign. Each one was 10 metres tall, 2100 kilos in weight and was made from steel and fibreglass.

5. THE COLOUR OF PEPSI

To promote the change of packaging colour from red and white to blue, the soft drink company, Pepsi, launched a series of ambitious publicity stunts. In April 2006 it paid the British newspaper, The Mirror, to print on blue paper. It also arranged for Concorde to be sprayed blue and got the cosmonauts on the Mir space station to be filmed with a giant Pepsi can. In total the campaign cost the company £300 million.

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