Up to 20 people have been injured at an LG event designed to advertise LG’s new flagship smartphone, the new LG G2. The event, named “G in the Cloud”, featured balloons being released into the air; 100 coupons were attached to these balloons, each one of them entitling the individual to a free LG G2. As you’d expect, more than a few people turned up when the event occurred…
Once the balloons were released, the huge crowd that had been watching rushed forward to try and acquire the coupons. Things got out of hand, however, when some people used BB guns to try and pop the balloons. Further compounding the issue was the fact that only a handful of security guards were on hand to control the otherwise rampant crowd. 20 individuals were hospitalized and LG has made a statement to say that they will compensate those injured.
It’s hard to imagine how this event was ever going to end well, but it’s a great indicator of what not to do for a marketing event for your new product, particularly for something as coveted as an unreleased smartphone. Check out the Korean news report (warning: it is in Korean) for a better idea of how out of hand the crowd got (I did find the parallels the report draws between the event and World War Z to be mildly humorous):
Source: Korea Times via Android Central
