Guerrilla...or Gruesome?

It may be clichéd to say so, but file this one under “what were they thinking?”

At a recent European promotional event for its upcoming PlayStation game “God of War II,” Sony ruffled some feathers by presenting the event as a lurid Greek orgy-style bacchanal—complete with topless girls and a bloodied, decapitated goat.

According to today’s Daily Mail, guests at the event were invited to eat warm offal (standing in as the goat’s intestines) from the dead animal’s stomach. Other guests were involved in knife-throwing contests and draped with live snakes, all while topless girls in body paint kept up with their grape-feeding responsibilities.

Gruesome photos of the event were printed in Sony’s PlayStation magazine (which has since been recalled), showing the slaughtered goat’s head dangling over the edge of a table by a thread of tissue. The accompanying article touted the event as “Sony’s Greek Orgy.”

All in tune with the themes of the “God of War” games, to be certain. But appropriate for a marketing event? Not according to animal rights activists.

When it comes to marketing stunts, how far is too far? Is “anything to get attention,” a good enough strategy?

Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal featured an article on guerrilla marketing that delves into this very question. While Sony certainly doesn’t qualify as such, the Journal article points out that many companies lack the resources for even the smallest of marketing budgets. Many consider guerrilla marketing to be the biggest bang for the smallest buck.

Taking such efforts to the extreme may result in lots of media attention (see the Cartoon Network’s ill-advised February marketing stunt in Boston), but may also end up damaging your brand’s reputation. Companies seeking to explore guerrilla techniques as a solution to budget crunches should tread carefully.

Sony has issued an official apology and pulled back the magazine spread; it remains to be seen if the extra publicity from the incident will affect sales of “God of War II” (for better or worse). But it is definitely interesting to wonder just how far a company will take a promotional stunt.

What’s next, battle to the death street fights to promote “Mortal Kombat?”

Technorati tags: Guerrilla Marketing, Wall Street Journal