Dell Employees Arrested Over Incredibly Stupid Marketing Stunt

from the faux-hostage-taking-is-not-a-good-idea dept

Fri, Feb 18th 2011 6:54am — Mike Masnick

In the long list of really bad marketing ideas, I'd have to say that "pretending to take an entire office hostage to celebrate the release of a new product" may be somewhere near the top. However, that's what two Dell marketing employees thought to do -- and since they were the only two who knew about the plan (which involved one of them dressed up as a "biker with a black mask" carrying "mysterious metal objects" and then ordering the entire office to "go to the lobby"), employees, naturally, got upset. Some called the police, who responded to what certainly could appear to be a hostage situation. Thankfully, no one got hurt, but the two guys were arrested, and now face misdemeanor charges. I'm reminded of the story a few years ago in Boston where glowing signs of Adult Swim characters were misinterpreted as bombs, shutting down much of the city of Boston. In that case, however, there was a massive overreaction, where the mayor wanted to ban all "guerrilla marketing." Of course, there was a pretty big difference in that situation: the marketers in that case didn't think they were placing something that looked like "bombs." They were just placing funky LED signs.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: marketing, stunts
Companies: dell

29 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

The eejit (profile), 18 Feb 2011 @ 6:06am

"Please ensure that brain is switched on and allowed time to warm up before opening a mouth, using a pen or executing an idea."

That's rule one of life.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
John Doe, 18 Feb 2011 @ 7:08am

Lucky nobody was packing heat...
They are very lucky that nobody had a concealed weapon or they might have gotten themselves shot.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 18 Feb 2011 @ 7:34am

Re:
My brain gave me a boot error. Must be getting old =)
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Dark Helmet (profile), 18 Feb 2011 @ 7:35am

Re: Lucky nobody was packing heat...
Or that there weren't any recently fired Walmart security types there....
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 18 Feb 2011 @ 7:39am

It doesn't matter - you are talking about it here, so their campaign is working.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 18 Feb 2011 @ 7:46am

Re: Lucky nobody was packing heat...
Wouldn't most sane offices forbid weapons within their premises?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Ima Fish (profile), 18 Feb 2011 @ 7:46am

Re:
"you are talking about it here, so their campaign is working"

Talking about what? If we have no idea what they were marketing, their attempt at marketing failed.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
DH's Love Child (profile), 18 Feb 2011 @ 7:46am

Re:
Yeah, I think their brains experienced BSOD. Must be running Windows ME.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Pixelation, 18 Feb 2011 @ 7:49am

You would think that at some point in the creation of the idea or the start of the execution of it that these guys would have thought, "Hmmm, I wonder if this is such a good idea".
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 18 Feb 2011 @ 7:52am

Re: Re: Lucky nobody was packing heat...
No, but the insane ones would.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Berenerd (profile), 18 Feb 2011 @ 7:55am

Re:
Saw a shirt last weekend.."I cannot brain today, I have the dumb..."
Seems to fit here..
[ link to this | view in thread ]
NullOp, 18 Feb 2011 @ 8:06am

Hostages
Jumping to conclusions is the most activity some people get!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
John Doe, 18 Feb 2011 @ 8:07am

Re: Re: Lucky nobody was packing heat...
Or there were no handbag swinging old ladies.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
John Doe, 18 Feb 2011 @ 8:08am

Re: Re: Lucky nobody was packing heat...
Yes, because we all know that banning things prevents them entirely. That is why you have never hear of shootings in schools which are "gun free" zones.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Dark Helmet (profile), 18 Feb 2011 @ 8:08am

Re: Hostages
"Jumping to conclusions is the most activity some people get!"

That gives me a great idea for an invention. See, it's called a jump to conclusions mat....

What? Waddya mean it's already been invented....
[ link to this | view in thread ]
mrtraver (profile), 18 Feb 2011 @ 8:28am

Re: Re: Hostages
That is the worst I idea I have ever heard, Tom.
Terible, terrible this idea.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 18 Feb 2011 @ 8:34am

Re: Lucky nobody was packing heat...
I'm a little surprised that no one had a gun considering it's Texas. Most of the people I work with have their concealed carry license and would have had no problem wounding the two of them.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 18 Feb 2011 @ 8:52am

Maybe these were the jobs Dell should have outsourced.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 18 Feb 2011 @ 9:00am

Re:
no we are talking about how stupid two people were, not how stupid their marketing party was.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 18 Feb 2011 @ 9:37am

Ban all marketing sounds like a fucking WONDERFUL idea.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 18 Feb 2011 @ 9:39am

Re: Re: Lucky nobody was packing heat...
Wouldn't most sane offices forbid weapons within their premises?

Why would they do that? Generally it's a matter of preference by the director/other talking heads, but there really isn't any statistic to make it a negative concept. In my office I don't have any such rules in place simply because statistically it's actually a lower risk to not have the rules in place.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Marcus Carab (profile), 18 Feb 2011 @ 9:42am

Re:
...as long as you are okay with paying way more for every product that relies on advertising income...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
The eejit (profile), 18 Feb 2011 @ 9:45am

Re: Re:
Eh, there's a tradeoff for everything. Still, I'll miss adverts like the one in Australia for the Knob-Expander 3000.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Marcus Carab (profile), 18 Feb 2011 @ 10:15am

Re: Re: Re:
well, fine, as long as you are also prepared to miss (or pay through the nose for) broadcast television, radio, news, sports leagues, public transit and nearly all free web services including Google :P
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Jay (profile), 18 Feb 2011 @ 10:34am

Re:
I thought rule Number one was Cardio...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 18 Feb 2011 @ 11:12am

Re: Re:
It doesn't matter, I am sure that plenty of people who read this post will look for more information, and of course, will remember that it is DELL involved in it.

Good or bad, as long as they spell you name right, it is working.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
The eejit (profile), 18 Feb 2011 @ 12:22pm

Re: Re: Re: Re:
Maybe. Google could probably adapt, and I'd be far more willing to cut the cable.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
TheRemains (profile), 18 Feb 2011 @ 12:32pm

that's the dumbest thing i've ever heard
And I'll tell you why right after I finish building this new Dell gaming machine
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 21 Feb 2011 @ 5:15am

Re:
The campaign to make everyone talk about what assholes they are whilst being completely 100% ignorant of what the product is?

You're right, it's going down a treat!
[ link to this | view in thread ]