Скачать или смотреть 19 World’s Craziest Publicity Stunts

From The Taco Liberty Bell, to the UFO stunt pulled by Richard Branson, here are 19 World's Craziest Publicity Stunts.

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7. The Taco Liberty Bell
Fast food chain Taco Bell pulled off one of the most hilarious April Fools Day pranks and publicity stunts of all time. On April 01, 1996 the company took out a full-page ad in six major newspapers claiming it had purchased the historically significant Liberty Bell, and apparently taking supposed liberties of their own, reported that they had renamed it the Taco Liberty Bell. Luckily they said that they planned on leaving it on display. National Park Services employees could attest to how many people were fooled by the elaborate prank; they were inundated with thousands of calls seeing if their famous national monument had been sold.

6. LifeLock Guy Gets Jacked
Lifelock founder and CEO Todd Davis decided to show just how effective his company was by publishing his Social Security number on Lifelock’s website and billboards, inviting anyone to try to steal his identity. After a short amount of time his ploy had seemed to work; by June 2007 only one person appeared to have successfully used his identity when they obtained a $500 loan from a check-cashing company. Unfortunately, time told a different story. By 2010 Davis had been the victim of an additional 12 identity thefts. One perpetrator had opened an AT&T account using his social security number and racked up $2,390 in unpaid charges. Despite the fact that the publicity stunt went horribly wrong LifeLock continues to protect millions of people’s identities to this day.

5. The Quicker Picker Upper
Popular paper towel company Bounty employed Rex Covington and L.A. Ice Art to create this spectacular seven foot five hundred and fifty pound real popsicle, which they transported and left on the street to melt, creating a huge mess that they would of course come back and clean, presumably with a bunch of paper towels.

4. Guinness Litters
As part of an advertising campaign for Guinness Foreign Extra Stout and the company’s 200th Anniversary beer maker Guinness decided to drop a ridiculous amount of messages in a bottle into the Atlantic Ocean; 150 thousand to be exact. The bottles contained messages for turning the bottle into a lamp, a beer label and, oddly enough a full page Ovaltine advertisement. Bottles still turn up from time to time, even over a half century after their initial release, making it, technically, one of the longest running ad campaigns of all time.

3. Imperial Stars
Los Angeles freeways are notoriously busy, and traffic jams are a daily occurrence. Little known rock band Imperial Stars decided to add to the congestion and frustration by blocking the street with a huge box truck and performing an impromptu concert as part of an ill-conceived publicity stunt. They also placed a sign on top of the truck as an effort to raise awareness to child homelessness. Motorists were stunned and angered by the sight, and initially, the stunt got the band what they wanted; the story made national news cycles. Eventually, however, the insane act would prove to be an epic failure. Three members of the band were ordered to pay 39,000 dollars to the California Department of Transportation and can you name a song by the Imperial Stars? We couldn’t either.

2. The Billowing Skirt Shot
Though it has long been reported that a passing train accidentally caused what would turn into one of the most famous pictures of Marilyn Monroe ever, the photograph was actually one big stunt. Opportunistic movie publicists thought it would be a good idea to hide a wind machine beneath the street grate before photographers arrived for the shoot, creating one of the best though least reported publicity stunts of all time.

1. Branson: A Publicity Genius
Part of what makes Richard Branson, so freaking rich is his amazing and insane publicity stunts. On the early morning of April 1, 1989, the billionaire purchased a custom hot air balloon shaped like a UFO to fly over London. Authorities and bystanders alike chased the UFO to its landing spot, Surrey Field. Once surrounded a midget, also hired by Branson emerged from the balloon in full alien costume, completing a ruse that police were none too amused with. When British Airways had problems erecting the London Eye, Branson arranged for a branded airship to fly over the site with a hilarious, tongue in cheek message for his fierce rival.