Kim Kardashian: Hip To Our PR Tricks?

 
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Jossip reports:

Flying is hard, even for the inexplicably famous. Last week Kim Kardashian claimed she was robbed of $50,000 worth of valuables, including a laptop that likely had the long awaited sequel to her sex tape(s) on it, at JFK. But the theft hasn’t been reported to the police, and officials think it was an act to get attention. Either that, or Kardashian doesn’t care about losing 50K. Stars: They’re not at all like us!

The question is, if it was just for publicity, what exactly was she hoping to get out of it?  Enlighten us, dear readers!

Bronze Fonz Nearly a Reality

Just $28,000 more in funds–or 2800 more t-shirts sold–and Milwaukee will finally have the linchpin in its tourism campaign: a bronze statue of The Fonze. “Ayeeee!”

The “Bronze the Fonz” publicity stunt is the brainchild of Dave Fantle, VP of PR for Visit Milwaukee, the city’s convention and visitors bureau.

On one hand, with the dollar weaker than a can of Shotz, the campaign could help the city lure a few intrepid foreigners. Happy Days is big in Japan, right? On the other, Milwaukee is way too far outside John Waters’ “curtain of irony” to sustain interest.

Regardless, Fantle is chalking up some nice publicity.

Apparently Henry Winkler–aka Barry Zuckerkorn–is flattered though finds the campaign bizarre. We hope he attends the photo opp!

Greenpeace Papers Arc de Triomphe

Greenpeace, the master of flashy publicity stunts, pulled off a big one today by sending 8 activists up the side of the Arc de Triomphe to hang their anti-GMO message.

They timed the banner to coincide with a 2-day conference in Paris on the environment. Already moving fast on environmental programs, Greenpeace feels the nation could be doing more. Newly minted Nobel-winner Al Gore is expected on Thursday.

Meanwhile Greenpeace U.S. is busy racking up millions of impressions with its slam on the iPhone.

Richard Branson’s Vegas Building Jump Gone Wrong

Believe it or not, the Virgin emperor has already broken several world records for weird things such as fastest time crossing the English Channel in an amphibious vehicle. For some reason, this video finds him shooting down the side of the Palms in Las Vegas, while throwing free Virgin Airways tickets to people below.

Normally Branson pulls stuff like this off, however this time a few things didn’t go according to plan. Hey, at least Penn from Penn & Teller has his back. Or actually was that Teller? We really don’t know. Watch and see for yourself.

Billionaire Branson hurt in risky Vegas stunt

Toyota Gets Bashed for Green PR Hypocrisy

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We should care about the environment and “green” issues for the sake of our planet and each other, not just for short term marketing gain. We’ve talked about this before.

Well, Toyota is the latest company to get busted for talking out of both sides of their mouth when it comes to the green game. From BNet (via NY Times):

Assisting Detroit’s suicide seems to be contagious. Everyone wants to get in on it, including Toyota. Toyota, which pioneered the industry-leading, 50-miles-per-gallon Prius hybrid, has joined with the Big Three U.S. automakers in lobbying against the tougher mileage standards in the Senate version of the draft energy bill.

Now why would Toyota, which has used the Prius to brand itself as the greenest car company, pull such a stunt? Is it because Toyota wants to slow down innovation in Detroit on more energy efficient vehicles, which Toyota already dominates, while also keeping mileage room to build giant pickup trucks, like the Toyota Tundra, at the gas-guzzler end of the U.S. market?

Damn! We have to admit, we have some love for the Prius – but now we just feel like she’s cheating on us. Should we have known all along?

PETA’s Newest Spokesperson: Michael Vick?

Peter Himler beat us to the punch on this one, but we feel we had to post something as well. Oh man, PETA (oh no, I just used caps) wants to partner up with Michael Vick for a new campaign.

ABC News reports:

One of the conditions of Vick doing an advertisement for PETA would require the athlete to say that his involvement in animal abuse not only harmed his family, income and career but would also include the statement “and I’m going to go to jail, and you would, too.

Love ’em or hate ’em, PETA are masters of publicity. Can they get Vick while he’s down? They would love the press and he would love the chance to use this to his benefit, but will he really benefit? Attending PETA meetings, like he did this week in Norfolk, VA is one thing, but being part of a publicity campaign? We don’t see this happening. Read PETA’s take here, and let us know your take in the comments.

Publicity Stunts Ensue After Michelle Williams / Heath Ledger Breakup?

Brooklyn’s most famous Hollywood couple, Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams recently broke up. Did a local moving company try to capitalize on the situation at hand? The Brooklyn Paper reports:

Neighbors started buzzing about the couple’s relocation to Splitsville last week, when a van from Celebrity Moving — we are not making that up — pulled up at Ledger and Williams’s former love nest. If it was a publicity stunt by the moving company, its employees weren’t talking. A manager at the Long Island City-based movers, who gave only the name “Tony,” said he wouldn’t discuss the celebrities that Celebrity Movers allegedly services.

It would be a genius move by the company, however we’ll chalk it up as coincidence for now. What do you think?

Mark Ecko’s $752,467 PR Plan

Not only has Mark Ecko thought of a great way to spend three quarters of a million dollars on publicity, he even got Barry Bonds to take the bait. As we’re sure you’ve heard, the well known fashion designer bought Bond’s record home run ball, and then promptly launched Vote756.com, where people can vote on whether to give the ball to the Hall of Fame, give it to the hall of Fame with an asterisk on it, or blast the ball into space.

ESPN.com reports (via SF Chronicle):

“He’s stupid. He’s an idiot,” Bonds said, according to the newspaper. “He spent $750,000 on the ball and that’s what he’s doing with it? What he’s doing is stupid.”

“All of those options don’t weigh anything,” he said, according to the report. “In baseball, that number [756] stands.”

Ecko did not directly respond to Bonds’ comments Wednesday, but said in a statement he would make Bonds a custom T-shirt that says, “Marc Ecko paid $752,467 for my ball, and all I got was this ‘stupid’ T-shirt.'”

So far he’s collected almost 10 million votes, although the site doesn’t tell us which option is leading. Like him or not, Ecko is a master at creating “stories” like this that the media will jump on.