Come On Baby, Light My Fire

Interesting promotion done for the Belgian Burn Wound Center. At the World Championship BBQ (an event that touted over 30,000 BBQ lovers)the Burn Center wanted to draw attention to BBQ related burn injuries. So, they set a guy on fire.




Now they've definitely got the right location to do this. And if anyone should be responsible for setting someone on fire, it's a burn center. Should anything go wrong, they would know exactly what to do. And this stunt was probably extremely carefully and safely prepared from start to finish. However, IF anything did go wrong, they'd have to take the heat (pun intended) and that would be beyond embarrassing, it would be a PR disaster. Granted, they took a chance. They could have gone a simpler route and handed out some promotional products like firetruck stress balls and let the chips fall. As fire prevention week approaches, I've been seeing the signs for the annual Open House at the local fire stations. However, unlike the Belgium Burn Wound Center, I can safely say that I don't think our local fire department is going to be lighting anyone aflame. And to this I say bravo. PR stunts can be effective when done correctly, but if done wrong the damage outweighs the cost. But you can always count on one thing. If there's been a bad PR stunt, the company will most likely be sending out some amazing corporate gifts come the holidays. As if a pen set will distract from the fact that they completely destroyed their image. Although, I have seen some pretty nice pen sets...