When computer games giant Electronic Arts decided to promote it's new game Mercenaries 2 : World in Flames by taking over a UK garage for the day and giving away £20,000 worth of fuel, could they have thought of the consequences?
The Last Stop garage near Finsbury Park was literally mobbed as up to 40 drivers queued all of the way back down the busy streets to claim their ‘prize'. The garage itself was restyled for the day in military camouflage, mock soldiers took to the streets with dummy machine guns and mayhem was the name of the day.
Local residents have complained in their hundreds after the stunt (which began at 6:30am) literally took over the whole area, saw roads gridlocked before, during and after the rush hour and required the assistance of the police to restore law and order. While Electronic Arts has claimed that the promotion went to plan – mimicking scenes in the Venezuela based game where fuel is used as currency – surely they must be regretting the stunt in private.
It will be interesting to see if Electronic Arts is hit with a bill for police time and any other costs associated with cleaning up after the stunt. Then again, even the £20,000 cost of the fuel, the charge for the garage and any fines would pale into insignificance compared to the media coverage the game has received – literally millions of people now know the game has been released! |
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