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Remember the Aqua Teen Hunger Force promotion that hit the streets of Boston and scared half of the population into hiding in fear of terrorist acts?

Well, it appears another promotion, this time for the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight, had similar effects.

The multi phase promotion for the movie, in its final phase, featured a cake wired to look like an explosive device; according to AdWeek, the promotion created such a stir that a San Antonio news station called in the bomb squad last week.

The cake was the finale of a three week campaign from the a chain of movie theaters aimed at the local media.

The Santikos Theater chain delivered the promo to the local television station who then proceeded to call the San Antonio police after the cake wired with a cell phone was delivered to its office.

The full campaign began on June 26, when a classified ad (presumably penned by Batman’s arch-enemy, the Joker) was placed in local papers recruiting clowns. The ad directed people to email with interest to whysoserious@santikos.com. When inquiring minds emailed, they were sent information about the new movie premiere.  All local media were alerted of the campaign via press release.

“Next up was a faux news report, created in conjunction with a local Fox affiliate, about graffiti artists tagging the local theater with the Batman symbol. It was aired on local networks and a clip was sent to San Antonio newsrooms with a release that posed the question, “What will the clowns do next?” The NBA San Antonio Spurs’ coyote mascot was then kidnapped while trying to remove the graffiti, according to another bogus new spot,” quoted the AdWeek article.

The final piece of the promotion was the cake with a ransom note that read: “If you want to see coyote again be at the Palladium [theater] at 8 p.m.” A phone number was included and when called information on receiving press badges to the premiere of the movie was announced.

Source: AdWeek

What do you think of this promotion?  Would you have been concerned had it been delivered to your place of employment?   Were these good ideas to assist in the promotion of the movie premiere?

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