Splinter Cell Stunt Goes Stupidly Wrong

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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Splinter Cell Stunt Goes Stupidly Wrong


An incredibly ill-conceived publicity stunt for Splinter Cell: Conviction [http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id=65497] went wildly wrong over the weekend as police were called, warnings were issued and at least one "actor" came away lucky that he didn't get pounded into goo by an irate mob.

Patrons outside the Degree bar in Auckland, New Zealand got a bit of a shock when a man with bandaged hands showed up, pulled a gun and started threatening people with it. People were shouting, diving behind tables and were "pretty terrified," according to manager Steph Kurtovich.

But he was only kidding! The whole thing was just a stunt to promote Ubisoft's [http://www.ubi.com] new Splinter Cell: Conviction. Unfortunately, the gun apparently looked pretty real, according to Senior Sergeant Ben Offner, who said the police couldn't tell it was a fake until they'd taken it from the guy. As you might guess, he was not amused.

"We consider these types of stunts to be very ill-advised and have real concerns a similar one may one day end in tragedy," he said.

Marketing manager Duane Mutu of Monaco Corporation, which was promoting that game, said he feels the same way and shifted the blame for the mess on another marketing firm Monaco had hired for the event. "This was by no means an attempt to get cops down there and get this sort of exposure," he said. "We do apologize, we shouldn't have had guns down there. It was just marketing gone wrong."

No kidding, Duane. Pointing guns at strangers is never a smart idea and in a booze-fueled environment like a bar at night, the actor involved is lucky nobody decided to be a hero and give him a righteous ass-kicking. Being a moron isn't a crime in New Zealand, however, so when all was said and done the police merely cautioned two men at the scene.

Source: NZ Herald News [http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10639139]


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GamingAwesome1

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May 22, 2009
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How the hell could they have thought that would've been a good idea and no-one would be alarmed?

Fail pubilicity stunt is fail.
 

IrrelevantTangent

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Oct 4, 2008
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Good God, that was a stupid idea. I mean, seriously, I've got no problem with them wanting to do something out-there for advertisement, but as a rule of thumb, people tend to panic when they see guns being waved at them. Who could possibly give the OK for that kind of thing without knowing what's going to happen?
 

laryri

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May 19, 2008
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If this had gone wrong the actor would've been the one who had to pay. That would've been sad.
 

Katherine Kerensky

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Mar 27, 2009
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Wow... that was a failure.
Honestly, who would think up such crap as a marketing stunt?
That is like throwing something at the leader of a country, just to market a certain brand of ice cream... it doesn't happen.
Or it shouldn't, but it did.
 

InsanityRequiem

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Nov 9, 2009
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A man doing a spy crawling act on a building side would be a publicity stunt.

Pulling out a gun, even fake, in a group of people? That's Darwin Award material.
 
Apr 28, 2008
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Wow, and I thought Sony's old marketing campaigns were stupid...

This and EA's protesting of their own game thing take the cake for me of "Dumbest. Stunts. Ever."
 

SnootyEnglishman

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May 26, 2009
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That little act of stupid is now given the *facepalm*. I mean seriously if you didn't want people thinking you were serious then use a gun with an orange tip on the end.
 

ScruffyTheJanitor

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Jul 17, 2009
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Nearly got himself a Darwin award there. Who seriously thinks pulling a gun out in public is EVER a good idea... whether it is real or not. (exclusing fake guns that don't even look like a gun, to an extent)
 

reg42

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Mar 18, 2009
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Wow.
I think this is one of the stupidest stunts ever done.
What idiot thought it was a good idea? He needs his brain examined.
 

FoolKiller

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Feb 8, 2008
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SnootyEnglishman said:
That little act of stupid is now given the *facepalm*. I mean seriously if you didn't want people thinking you were serious then use a gun with an orange tip on the end.
Good point. Could you imagine if this had been done in a gun-happy place in the US?
 

ssgt splatter

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Oct 8, 2008
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Fuckin' morons! How stupid are these people?

[edit] The game itself is incredible but that stunt is anything but.
 

bassdrum

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Oct 6, 2009
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Who exactly thought that this was a good idea? People could have been hurt or killed! Also, in what way does pulling a gun in a bar promoting a game about sneaking around in the shadows and breaking people's necks? Ubisoft, I've lost even more respect for you. The games you make may be fun to play, but between DRM and dangerously stupid publicity stunts, I have come to the conclusion that you guys are incurable idiots.
 

Distorted Stu

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Sep 22, 2009
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Yeah.. great idea i coulnt see that going wrong?

Hell, next time i rob somewhere and i get caught, il just say i was promoting Splinter Cell ;)
 

wooty

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Aug 1, 2009
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Stupid, but it got peoples attention though. Even bad publicity is publicity I guess
 

Otterpoet

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Jun 6, 2008
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Splinter Cell: Conviction... well, at least they got the 'conviction' part right.

God. I'm just... wow. That's how-does-a-brain-that-small-operate-a-central-nervous-system stupid!
 

SnootyEnglishman

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May 26, 2009
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FoolKiller said:
SnootyEnglishman said:
That little act of stupid is now given the *facepalm*. I mean seriously if you didn't want people thinking you were serious then use a gun with an orange tip on the end.
Good point. Could you imagine if this had been done in a gun-happy place in the US?
This man would because human swiss cheese.