PR Stunt Leaves Fishy Smell

Being the big fish in the small pond turned out to be the dead fish in no pond for Advantage SA and its co-brand Advantage Adelaide when they delivered 55 goldfish in a bowl to unimpressed media outlets.

The goldfish were delivered, along with the text, “Be the big fish in a small pond and come test the water” to multiple media agencies in a bid to promote South Australia. However many turned up dead - talk about PR stunt gone wrong!

On the face of it the stunt was creative and had the potential to be quirky and make a real impact – which it did –but for all the wrong reasons.

Apparently South Australia is often overlooked when it comes to tourism promotion and though a creative approach is often needed when a country has so many beautiful locations, there were obvious risks in sending a live animal.

Even if the fish had survived the journey, I’m sure that out of the 55 journalists who received the scaly present there would be more than a few who would NOT want the hassle of a pet.

Dead fish aside, Advantage SA took a risk that journalists, who are busy people, would appreciate feeding and cleaning out their new addition, being added to their ever growing to-do lists.

Realising this and having received many complains, Advantage SA chief Karen Raffen urged the media agencies who were lucky enough to get live fish to return them if they were unwanted.

She said: “We are willing to collect any fish not being looked after and provide them with a good and healthy home.”

This PR disaster immediately reached the web with one person who received the unexpected gift anonymously posting the following on marketing website Mumbrella: “Not a good look for Advantage SA, which is trying to promote South Australia as an attractive place to advertise.”

Ms.Raffen was quick to apologise for the foul gift telling ABC Radio Adelaide: “We offer our sincere apologies. There was absolutely no intention to cause distress or harm to the fish.

“In hindsight we would probably not do this again.”

After apologising to the journalists, Advantage SA covered all humble pie bases by stating that they will be making contributions to both the Animal Welfare League and the RSPCA.

A trail of dead fish, annoyed journalists and upset animal rights activists are all things that PR stunts should avoid – however lessons can be learned from this.

The fact that the organisation didn’t realise there was a chance the fish could die is poor and the fact that they’re apologised and made a few good will gestures is just shutting the gate after the horse – or fish – has bolted.

Some say any press is good press, but when it smells like dead fish its best to avoid any press at all.