Guerrilla marketing stunts are becoming increasingly prevalent in the advertising landscape. It has been proven to be a very effective way to increase brand exposure and establish a stronger relationship between the brand and consumer. Unfortunately, due to poor planning and failure to foresee future consequences they have been known to backfire. The latest and possibly greatest example of this happened Tuesday in Los Angeles when an obscure hip-hop band called Imperial Stars decided to block traffic on the busy 101 freeway in Hollywood. In an attempt to attract attention and increase exposure the group forced traffic to a dead stop when they parked a large truck sideways blocking all but one lane going southbound. They then proceeded to climb on the roof of the truck and performed their newest single appropriately titled “Traffic Jam 101”. Commuters continued to stack up behind the truck advertising their band as tempers flared. Eventually, like many failed guerrilla marketing campaigns, the police came and arrested the performers for their impromptu show. The truck driver reportedly fled the scene in another car and took the keys with him so the truck had to be towed and traffic remained at a stand still until the area could be cleared.
Although they received media attention, this is probably the worst example of guerrilla marketing I have ever seen. They managed to make themselves look like complete idiots, angered everyone in attendance at their “concert”, and will now have the stigma of being those morons who stopped traffic and made everyone late to work. This type of stunt worked much better when the Beatles did it.
In the wake of the worst oil spill in US history, British Petroleum (BP) has taken a unique and dangerous public relations stance; they are not apologizing. Their website’s emphasis is on the cleanup rather than detailing what and who exactly caused the spill. Rather than a heartfelt apology their website’s lead story is reporting that over 2,500 personnel are involved in the response to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Their no apology strategy continues with a quote from CEO Tony Hayward who explained, “BP is fully committed to taking all possible steps to contain the spread of the oil spill” but failed to offer an apology. Their position seems to be that it isn’t all BP’s fault. On the Today show, Hayward explained to Meredith Viera that “it wasn’t our fault but we are absolutely responsible for the oil and committed to cleaning it up”. Instead of being held accountable for the accident BP has decided to point the finger at Transocean, the offshore driller that BP has partnered with. This isn’t a very good public relations policy. For one, if you contract with someone like they have with Transocean, you are responsible for their actions. Also, trying to shift the blame and get off on a technicality makes BP look much worse than if they would simply apologize and accept responsibility. BP has had a very public, long running campaign promoting itself as a relatively green company and seeming both unapologetic and unprepared for the catastrophe is turning into a public relations nightmare. Only time will tell but the “we’re not to blame but we will clean up the mess” strategy seems to be ineffective.
