It’s been said that marketing is more about selling an idea than a product. There’s an early episode of Mad Men in which Don Draper comes up with a way to sell cigarettes by simply saying the tobacco is toasted, even though every brand has toasted tobacco. It doesn’t really matter what you’re trying to sell, just use words that make it sound enticing. You don’t even technically need to lie, just say stuff people want to hear. Even if that means saying things that mean nothing.

10. Corinthian Leather is Just Leather

Is there anything like the smell of a new car? It’s hard to even explain what it is. Maybe some of the paint, some deodorizers and cleaners used in production, and possibly even that rich, Corinthian leather.

Mmm, can you already feel it? Soft, supple, and luxurious? Yep, Corinthian leather is the top of the line upholstery for your car and why shouldn’t it be? It comes from Corinth, right? The Ancient Greek city once sacked by Romans and that currently has a population of under 40,000? They probably know tons about leather. 

In reality, Corinthian leather has nothing to do with one another because Corinthian leather isn’t a thing. It was made up by ad execs for Ricardo Montalban. Yeah, Khan from Star Trek.

As the story goes, Montalban was doing the play Don Juan when he got to Detroit and Chrysler and its ad agency saw him perform. The executives loved Montalban and wanted him to promote the Cordoba, which sounded Spanish and fit Montalban’s sexy mystique. 

They got him to talk about Corinthian leather because, in his accent, that word sounded suave as hell. Much cooler than just “leather” alone. It was just cheap leather, it didn’t come from anywhere special at all, but now it sounded like it did and people wanted it. 

9. There’s No Such Thing as Sushi Grade Fish

About five million Americans eat sushi once a month and it’s safe to say it’s probably the most popular Japanese cuisine in North America. Some people love it enough to try their hand at doing it themselves even though it can take years, even over a decade, to master it in Japan. 

One thing people concern themselves with when it comes to making sushi is the quality of the fish. You need sushi grade fish, right? You can find sushi grade fish for sale at markets but what they rarely tell you is that it doesn’t mean anything.

Things get a little complicated when trying to understand this because, in America, the FDA has guidelines for fish if it’s being served raw. Their Parasite Destruction Guarantee says that, in order to serve a raw product it must be “frozen and stored at a temperature of -20°C (-4°F) or below for a minimum of 168 hours (7 days).” That will ensure you’re at minimum risk for parasites in the fish. But is that sushi grade? No.

There is no regulation in North America for the actual term “sushi grade.” It may be used by vendors who meet that FDA standard, but the FDA doesn’t govern the use of that label so anyone can say any fish at all is sushi grade for no reason at all. 

Sushi-grade was used as a marketing term in the early 2000s to convince restaurants to expand beyond tuna when trying to sell raw fish. It was a nice term that sounded official and convinced them to expand their horizons.

8. Superfruit Is Just a Vague Marketing Term

Everyone wants to sell you the next big thing and a buzz term that showed up a few years back was “superfood.” This has been narrowed down in some circles as “superfruit.” Things like pomegranate, acai, Goji berries and even blueberries have been called superfruits, mostly because they have antioxidants or whatever other nutrient someone is trying to push as a miracle.

In reality, a superfruit is a fruit. It may be a good fruit and it’s great if you love it and want to eat it, but it’s no “better” than other fruits. That’s kind of the rub with a word like “super,” it doesn’t have a lot of objective meaning. 

The European Union banned the label “superfood” back in 2007 unless manufacturers could provide evidence of how that item was good for your health. . 

7. All Salt Is Sea Salt 

Once upon a time if you went to the store to buy salt you’d find boxes of iodized salt and shakers and maybe some coarse or kosher salt. Now when you go, you can find gray salt, pink salt, Atlantic sea salt, Celtic salt, black salt and probably a few dozen more.

Sea salt is big, especially in marketing other products. Sea salt chips, for instance, or pretzels coated with coarse sea salt. You know it’s good if it came from the sea! Except in a very literal way, all salt is sea salt. 

Even if the ocean that it came from dried up hundreds or thousands of years ago, it came from the sea at some point. And it is chemically exactly the same as all other salt, it just might have a handful of other random, non-salt minerals included in tiny amounts to tweak the color.

Modern day marketing uses terms like “sea salt” to make it seem different from “regular” salt and therefore higher quality or more nutritious but it’s all the same in the end.

6. Angus Is Just a Breed of Cattle and Doesn’t Imply Quality

People take their beef seriously and any restaurant that is trying to entice you to buy steaks or burgers isn’t just going to have beef on the menu. They’re going to seduce you with tales of just how great that beef is. It’s going to be USDA Prime beef and maybe, if you’re really fancy, it’ll be certified Angus beef. That has to be good. It’s certified! It earned a certificate!

So what makes beef certified Angus? Well, it has to come from an Angus cow. Like Holstein or Guernsey, Angus is a breed of cow. They’re the black ones, and to qualify as Angus, a cow has to be mostly black. Then, to be certified Angus beef, the meat has to have a specific amount of marbling and fat, muscle thickness and so on. 

In terms of taste, you probably won’t notice any difference between Angus beef and any other beef of the same quality because it’s all beef. If it has the same fat content, it’s going to be pretty much identical. The Angus label, which is usually used to make beef seem higher quality, tastier or just better than “normal” beef is nothing but marketing. 

The big difference comes down to Angus vs Certified Angus. The certified meat is at least inspected to ensure the highest quality in terms of marbling which affects flavor. Again, if you had beef from a different breed that had the same thickness, the same fat marbling, etc, it will taste the same. 

If someone is selling Angus beef that doesn’t claim to be certified, then it can be any quality of Angus. This is what fast food companies do with their Angus burgers, and you end up paying more for beef that is no better quality than what is normally on the menu.. 

5. Portobello, Cremini and Button Mushrooms Are All the Same

Not everyone enjoys mushrooms but plenty of people do and the mushroom industry is worth over $50 billion per year. Matsutake mushrooms can cost as much as $2000 per pound, so it’s easy to see where all that cash is coming from. 

Marketing plays a big part in selling mushrooms and nowhere is that more apparent than in the world of portobello mushrooms. For those of us who can’t shell of a few grand for matsutakes or truffles, the portobello is the more accessible fancy mushroom. You’ll see them on menus when a restaurant wants to elevate a dish above just boring old mushrooms. Or at least trick you into thinking that.

In reality, there’s no such thing as a portobello mushroom. Obviously it’s an actual mushroom, but it’s no different from those little white button mushrooms you see on the shelf of every grocery store in North America and that’s because they’re exactly the same mushroom.

Little white button mushrooms turn brown as they age. At a certain point they will be marketed as cremini mushrooms, probably right next to their pale, younger selves on the shelf. But when they grow big enough, they get upgraded to portobello. All three mushrooms are the same fungus, just at different stages in its lifespan. Marketing makes it seem like you’re getting something fancier or higher quality. 

4. No Tears Shampoo for Kids Didn’t Have a Specific Meaning

Ever open your eyes in the shower with a headful of shampoo and instantly regret it as the lather oozes into your eyes and burns into your skull? Good thing they invented tear-free shampoo so you can lather your eyes until the cows come home. Except that’s not really how it works and the concept of “no tears” shampoo was more marketing than practical formula.

There was never a standard formula to govern what “no tears” means between brands of shampoo. Until 2013, Johnson and Johnson used to include formaldehyde in their no tears baby shampoo which you probably don’t need a degree in chemistry to know was a bad thing to put in your eyes. 

More confusing was that, for some years, there was a debate about whether no tears meant tears as in liquid that comes from your eyes or tears as in rips and breaks in your hair. There were commercials that made it clear the formula was a detangler so that, when you comb your hair later, it wouldn’t tear at your skull and cause you to cry. 

Johnson and Johnson, post formaldehyde, said their formula meant no tears as in no crying if shampoo gets in your eyes because their formula is made up of larger molecules designed to be less harsh to eyes and skin. All of this means the marketing term “no tears” meant very little to most people since it was widely open to interpretation. 

3. Cage Free and Free-Range Might Not Mean What You Think

Once upon a time you’d go to a store and buy eggs. Now you can pick Omega-3 eggs, organic eggs, cage-free eggs, free range eggs and a few dozen others. Some of those things mean something and others probably don’t mean what you think.

Cage-free eggs means that yes, the hen that laid them wasn’t in a cage. But it doesn’t mean she was outside, either. These hens are kept in rooms where they can roam and have unlimited access to food and water. However, the chickens often fight each other and poor ventilation means they may live in terrible air quality. 

Free-range is more insidious. It sounds like the hens can wander, but in reality it means they can “theoretically” wander free. The place they are kept must have a door to the outside, but there’s literally no rule that says a farmer has to open it, or that the access they have to outside is anything beyond a small cage. Look for “certified humane” if you want more assurance they had access to space outside. 

Another label, farm fresh, has no meaning at all. Chickens are all raised on farms so it’s just filler to say this. The farm could be in the fiery pits of hell and the eggs would still be farm fresh. Likewise, the word natural has no meaning because an egg, by definition, is natural.

2. Saltwater Taffy and Regular Taffy Are the Same Thing

Would you rather have taffy or saltwater taffy, assuming you’re a taffy person at all? There’s no reason to stress any longer as there’s no difference between the two. “Saltwater” taffy is just a thing to make it sound better. It’s not even made from saltwater.

According to legend, a taffy shop in Atlantic City was flooded one day thanks to some angry sea levels. A customer wanted to buy some taffy, and the owner joked all he had was salt water taffy, thanks to the flood. But he sold what he had, the customer liked it and boom, a new name was created.

1. The Term “Teenager” Was Invented in the 40s

Everyone knows what a teenager is, it’s obvious. But that’s only obvious to use in the present. If you asked someone in the ’30s what a teenager was, you’d be met with an arched eyebrow at best. That’s because the concept of teenagers was invented as a marketing angle in the 1940s.

Teenagers became a recognized phase of life, that sport between childhood and adulthood as society moved away from agrarian roots to city living and manufacturing. To prevent kids from all being chimney sweeps or coal miners, mandatory schooling was created and a clear “new” type of human emerged – the teenager. A little rebellious, a little better educated, and unique in their wants and needs.

Marketers of the world must have rejoiced at this totally new and cross-cultural customer base they had created to sell things to, and which to this day stands as one of the biggest forces in pop culture and marketing as everyone wants to be the next “big thing” for the teens out there.

Marketing is a tricky game. A lot of brands aren’t really selling anything anybody needs. A lot of promotion is about selling yourself as a company rather than the product you produce. This means brands have got to stay relevant, and they need to pull wacky stunts so that we notice them.

Mostly, these huge brands throw a bunch of money at a professional. The event passes by without any drama. Sometimes, though, they hire the wrong people, and it all goes disastrously wrong.

Related: 10 B.S. Myths We Believe Because Of Advertising

10 Jagermeister’s Pool Party

Imagine a Venn diagram with Jagermeister’s event team on the left and skilled chemists on the right. The middle section is likely sparse. In other words, best not to leave the Jagermeister team in charge of dangerous chemicals. At a brand promotion in Leon, Mexico, they proved they could not handle their liquid nitrogen well.

This particular event was a pool party in 2013 with about 200 young people in attendance. To increase the party atmosphere, the event managers decided that pouring liquid nitrogen over the swimming pool would create an awesome smoky effect. Unfortunately, they did not realize that liquid nitrogen combined with chlorine creates a toxic gas.

People soon started to fall unconscious. Never good news, but especially bad when a bunch of people are swimming. Fortunately, no one at the event died. However, a 21-year-old man ended up in a coma, and eight others were hospitalized.^[1]

9 Dr. Pepper’s Treasure Hunt

Sometimes it’s hard to fathom how these marketing ideas were born into existence. In this case, Cadbury Schweppes (who owned the soda at the time) decided to put on a treasure hunt for their soft drink, Dr. Pepper. In 2007, they hid coins worth various amounts of money around the city. Participants needed to locate them using clues to get the cash prize.

One clue led to a graveyard. A 347-year-old graveyard in Boston that was the resting place for, among others, John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and Robert Treat Paine. You have, by this point, likely spotted the glaring issue. The city quickly stopped the hunt after contestants started descending on the burial site. Yes, because they were afraid these people might start digging the place up. Dr. Pepper apologized, stating the coin should not have “been placed in such a hallowed site.” Something that really should have been obvious before people were running into a cemetery with shovels.^[2]

8 LG’s Accidental Riot

Yet another event that had not been thought through beyond the first move (it is unlikely many skilled chess players are on this list). In 2013, LG promoted an event where they would release 100 helium balloons, each containing a voucher for a free smartphone.

These were pricey smartphones that they were giving away—valued at more than $850US. Those that turned up were playing to win. When the balloons were released, the crowd underneath brought out BB guns and started firing. Twenty people were injured in the resulting scrum. LG decided it should probably cancel the remainder of similar events planned. Very wise.^[3]
6

7 Domino’s Tattooed Giveaway

Domino’s bit off more than they could chew with a bizarre marketing strategy in Russia in 2018. They asked fans to get a tattoo of the company’s logo in a prominent place on their body. Photos of said tattoo uploaded to social media would win the contestant a lifetimes supply of pizza. Unfortunately, they did not seem to realize how many would take them up on that offer.

They had planned to run this campaign for two months and award the pizza to anyone with a tattoo they shared on Russia’s Facebook-like social media platform. However, after five days, they had received so many pictures of tattoos they had to change the campaign to the first 350 people instead. You sure wouldn’t want to be number 351 who hadn’t heard about the change of plans.^[4]

6 Paramount’s Bomb Scares

Here we have another 1-D chess player. This time they took their idea to the L.A. streets. The Paramount marketing team, promoting the new Mission Impossible III, placed electronic devices in newspaper racks around the city. When the door was opened, they would play the theme music from the film.

Unfortunately, these devices looked an awful lot like homemade bombs. Many panicked citizens soon called the police. One news rack was blown up by the bomb squad in response to one of the suspected bomb reports. If this sounds a little extreme, know that this device was a plastic box with wires sticking haphazardly out of it attached to the inside of the newspaper boxes.

These were placed in 4,500 different newspaper vending machines, leaving the emergency services to field a lot of phone calls even after they were aware this was a music box. It caused more than a little outrage, and Paramount Pictures was subsequently sued. After an ensuing court case, Paramount was asked to pay $75,000 to settle negligence claims.^[5]

5 Snapple’s Downtown Flood

In this story, event planners failed to realize ice might melt on a hot day. Snapple had launched a set of frozen treats and decided to promote it with a record-breaking stunt. They wanted to create the biggest popsicle ever made and stand it in downtown New York. This resulted in them trying to remove a 25-foot-tall, 17.5-ton ice sculpture on a stick from a freezer truck in Manhattan on a summer day in 2005.

Before they could even put the giant Snap-icle upright, it began to melt. Strawberry-kiwi pink goo began to flow down the streets. Police had to close down the road as onlookers made a run to higher ground. Brand representatives have stated that there will be no second attempt to break the record.^[6]

4 Fiat’s Love Letters

In an ill-conceived stunt in Spain, Fiat mailed letters to 50,000 women claiming to be from a secret admirer. There was no signature. There was no indication of what or who was behind the letter. The letter pretended to be from someone who had noticed the woman while looking at them on the street. It further said, “I only need to be with you for a couple of minutes, and even if it doesn’t work out, I promise you won’t forget our little experience together.”

These were decidedly creepy letters to receive. Many women believed that they were being stalked. They stayed in their homes feeling fearful until a second letter arrived two weeks later. This letter explained that the first had been a marketing tactic and invited the women to their local Fiat dealer. The women, enraged, decided not to accept the offer. They decided it was more appropriate to sue Fiat instead.

These mail recipients won their case. However, the payout was quite small. Fortunately for Fiat, this campaign pre-dated the internet (1994), and so word of their creepy gaffe did not travel too far.^[7]

3 Lay’s Rainy Days

Lay’s (chips), which are known as Walkers (crisps) in the UK, decided to run a campaign where participants could bet on when and where it would rain. Unfortunately, the company, owned by PepsiCo in the USA, did not realize how easy a competition this would be in the UK, where it rains pretty much all the time.

Many bets were soon being won. Although contestants only received a payout of £10 for a correct bet, soon payouts were over $600,000, and the company could not continue. Walkers attempted to change their rules halfway through, limiting how much participants could bet. This led to backlash and a strict warning from the UK Watchdog for advertising standards. They banned the campaign from taking place again.^[8]

2 Amazon’s Nazi Trains

As a 2015 promotion stunt for The Man in the High Castle, their new TV show, Amazon plastered New York subway cars with themed decorations. Unfortunately, the show depicts the USA under Axis control in an alternate reality where Germany and Japan had won WWII. These themed decorations were versions of the Third Reich and Imperial Japan insignia.

On subway trains, seats and walls were entirely covered in these designs, including the American flag reimagined with the German Eagle and Iron Cross in place of the stars. They at least figured out not to include a swastika.

A spokesperson stated that advertising a show with this type of subject matter would always be difficult. Others deemed this move as pretty obviously insensitive and tasteless to plaster Nazi symbols inescapably all over the morning commute of the people of New York.^[9]

1 Cartoon Network’s Shady Boxes

The Cartoon Network managed to cause chaos and panic across Boston with a marketing stunt—poor Boston; this one was also in 2007, the same as the Dr. Pepper cemetery fiasco from above.

The marketing company they had hired decided to set up adverts on the city streets. They had an artist create boxes with LED lights depicting a character—Mooninite—from Aqua Teen Hunger Force, a new show they were promoting, all over the city.

Many residents panicked at the sight of these and called emergency services. At least one of these devices was seen as so suspicious that it was detonated on site. Some residents thought that the panic was ridiculous and mocked it. They started a campaign placing stickers on devices like ATMs and parking meters reading “this is not a bomb.” Others, however, took it very seriously.

The artist behind the piece was arrested. Turner Broadcasting, the parent company of Cartoon Network, was ordered to pay out over $2 million to various security and law enforcement agencies that had been called out as a result.^[10]

Marketing is the lifeblood of sales. Unless a brand has already established itself as a dominant force in the market, it will be difficult for the public to react positively to its product launch without some form of marketing.

Sometimes, products perform well in the market solely because of an optimized marketing effort. This is the reason why every industry invests in marketing. In the world of video games, there have been successful and unsuccessful marketing campaigns. What we are, however, not prepared for are bizarre marketing campaigns. These marketing efforts are very strange and far from the usual. Some of these campaigns were so unusual that they attracted criticism and even law enforcement.

Here are ten of the most bizarre video game marketing campaigns.

10 Call of Duty: Black Ops III Issues Fake Terror Alert

The makers of Call of Duty went too far when they live-tweeted that a terror attack was taking place in Singapore. The false claim was only a publicity stunt to introduce their new game Call of Duty: Black Ops III. First, it is very unusual for a video game maker to make false terrorist attack claims, but what we find more bizarre is that this extraordinary publicity stunt was totally unnecessary. Call of Duty was already a successful video game franchise.

The marketing campaign backfired quickly, with many people responding on Twitter that the publicity stunt was in poor taste. Most people would agree that the video game maker could have done better, considering terrorist attacks do take place in the real world, and the fear of terrorism exists all over the world. There is no doubt that this marketing campaign was downright bizarre.^[1]

9 Electronic Arts Causes Gridlock in London with Mercenaries 2: World in Flames

The plot of the game Mercenaries 2: World in Flames is straightforward. The protagonist’s aim is to kill the President of Venezuela. Since the plot of the game also involves Venezuelan oil facilities, the marketers of the game actually tied the game to a physical gas station, or maybe they were trying to set the world aflame for real—we may never know for sure. One thing we know is that there was a marketing stunt to promote the game that involved £20,000 worth of free fuel at a single gas station.

The line of cars going to this gas station was very long, and drivers started having altercations. Each driver received £40 of free fuel from the marketers of the game. It didn’t take long before police shut down Electronic Arts’ operations due to the ensuing chaos. In fact, a member of the British Parliament demanded an apology from Electronic Arts, claiming that the video game publishers were trying to cause Venezuelan-style fuel riots in London. Any marketing campaign that gets the attention of the police and triggers a request for an apology from an MP is an unusual one. This is the most considerate way we can tag the promotion.^[2]

The previous week, the same promo seemed to have gone off without a hitch in the U.S. A La Cienega Blvd. gas station in Los Angeles saw actors hired as mercenaries with signs offering the free gas and helping with directing cars.

8 Zynga Vandalizes City Sidewalks with Counterfeit Money

Despite being an online game heavyweight, Zynga let us down with its ridiculous attempt to promote the game Mafia Wars. The company glued fake promotional bills to the sidewalks of Manhattan. This is nothing but vandalization of public property. At one point, the San Francisco City Attorney’s office had to open an investigation into the ignominious act. Besides the counterfeit money Zynga put into circulation, marketers also produced decals depicting gang violence to market the video game. They also glued the bills to the sidewalks in Manhattan, even after receiving a rebuke for the stunt in the City by the Bay.

The Deputy City Attorney called the marketing campaign “illegal and actionable.” Not mincing words about this incident—any marketing campaign that warrants rebuke from the City Attorney’s office is an odd campaign. ^[3]

7 Electronic Arts Stages Protest Against Its Own Game

Just when we think that we have seen the worst of it, we are confronted with another weird video game promotion strategy that we cannot wrap our heads around. This is the second time we find Electronic Arts on our list for a similar reason. In 2009, the game publisher hired a group of 20 fake protesters to demonstrate outside the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles to protest the upcoming game Dante’s Inferno.

The most ridiculous thing about this incident is that these fake protesters found the perfect excuse to stage their protest—religion! According to these jokers, the upcoming game glorified eternal damnation. The fake protesters held up picket signs asking people to “Trade in Your Playstation for a Praystation.” In a strange twist of events, Electronic Arts turned around to admit that the protest was fake and staged by their marketing agency.^[4]

6 Splinter Cell: Conviction Roleplay Leads to Police Intervention

Splinter Cell: Conviction is an action-adventure game that emphasizes stealth; however, the promotional stunt for the game went too far and nearly led to death. In Auckland, New Zealand, a man with bandages on his hand threatened the patrons of a bar with a fake gun, and police were immediately called to the scene. What we find very bizarre about this particular marketing campaign is that even the police officers that responded could not immediately determine that the gun being brandished by the promotions worker was fake until it was retrieved from him.

We find ourselves asking some questions: what if the police had been trigger-happy and fired at sight? What would have happened to the promotions worker? Is death a justifiable end for a video game marketing campaign? No matter how hard we tried, finding an answer wouldn’t be an easy task. But we are certain that this video game promotion effort is far from the usual.^[5]

5 Bethesda Wants to Give a Baby a Dragon-Themed Name

Bethesda is the video game company that produced the game The Elder Scrolls V.Skyrim. The company announced a contest for any child born on the day the game was launched. The catch was the parents had to name the child “Dovahkiin,” which translates to “Dragonborn” in dragon language. If the parents did this, the child would win Bethesda games for life. Coincidentally, parents Megan and Eric Kellermeyer welcomed their baby on November 11, 2011, at 6:08 pm—the same day the game was launched. And as they longed to give their baby a unique name, the contest just happened to have been announced at the most appropriate time.

You can’t deny this might be a marketing campaign taken too far. It is downright bizarre that a company would encourage parents to burden their child with such a name. While we can’t guess exactly what was going on in the minds of Megan and Eric Kellermeyer, whatever was in there was absolutely unusual. Can you hear the teasing on the playground already? However, it shouldn’t surprise you that this campaign has been done before. In 2018, KFC offered a college scholarship for the first child born on Colonel Sanders’s birthday to be named Harland (the Colonel’s first name). So now little Harland Rose will have money when she’s old enough for college. Well, at least it wasn’t Dovahkiin. Poor kid!^[6]

4 Resident Evil 6 Experiments with a Weird Meat

In order to promote Resident Evil 6, Capcom, the company that produced the game, decided to embark on a very unusual promotional tactic. This promo involved the creation of a butcher shop with meat that looked like human flesh. The butcher shop was called “Wesker & Son.” The meat on sale was actually edible animal meat carefully constructed by a food artist to look like human body parts. The butcher shop was open for two days before it closed.

There is another bizarre development relating to the launch of Resident Evil 6. The first marketing stunt involved the creation of fake murder scenes in front of popular media businesses in London.^[7]

3 Acclaim Painted Pigeons for Virtua Tennis 2

Acclaim used a weird and unusual marketing stunt to introduce its game, Virtua Tennis 2, to the world. The company painted homing pigeons with the game’s logo and released the pigeons over Wimbledon. This particular marketing campaign was directed at tennis enthusiasts, considering the chosen venue. Although Wimbledon is already famous for the occasional descent of pigeons, this would be the first time that people would get to see a painted pigeon, especially one that bears a message.

Some will never forget this unusual advertisement stunt. If only video game marketers used their power for good instead of painting the poor, innocent pigeons.^[8]

2 Acclaim Offers to Pay Parents to Name Their Child Turok

Acclaim is here again! The New York-based video game publisher started a contest, offering $10,000 to the first parent to name their newborn child after the dinosaur-slaying hero in its upcoming game Turok: Evolution. In order for the parent(s) to qualify for the prize, the child must be named Turok. There is an understandable reason why we consider this a bizarre form of marketing—the poor child is saddled with the name and has to answer to it. Makes you wonder what’s going on in the minds of these parents.

It’s also worth noting that Acclaim Entertainment as a company has gotten excellent results from such unconventional marketing efforts before this particular move. In the same month that the company announced the “Turok” challenge, it received thousands of responses when it offered £500 and an Xbox game console to anyone in Britain who was willing to change their legal name to Turok. We’ll never know if these people were in love with the name or just keen to take any prize, no matter how small.

Surprisingly, an Acclaim spokesman, Alan Lewis, said that the unusual promotional tactic was the only way to survive in the world of video games because of the stiffening competition. In 2020, a staff writer for VG247 decided to track down the five people who were reported to have received the prize money. After numerous dead ends, he stumbled upon the truth. All five people were actors who had been paid to claim they had changed their name. No one actually had done it. But still, it garnered a lot of buzz at the initial campaign rollout.^[9]

1 Mass Effect 3 Discs Shot into Space

This is the most unusual of them all and deserves the number one spot. Electronic Arts gave fans of the game Mass Effect 3 the opportunity to play the game early in a unique way. The first copies of the game were carried up into space by weather balloons which later released them. People on the ground could track the falling games thanks to attached GPS devices.

Fans could also monitor where the nearest game landed. The targeted cities were New York, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Berlin, London, and Paris. What a fan needed to do to get any of the copies was to create an EA (Electronic Arts) online account, then track down copies of the game as they fell to Earth using EA’s GPS system. Once the game landed, it became an open race. The first set of fans to get to the landing sites would get all the available copies on a first-come basis. While we commend Electronic Arts for this exceptional display of technological proficiency, we find it downright bizarre that a video game company would send video games to outer space.^[10]