When a corporation pulls a prank, it's like industrial robots patting a young child on the head: they're very powerful, and have the best of intentions, but there's always a mess of cleanup and legal action afterwards. The latest big business balls-up was by Tele2, a Swedish mobile phone firm, who decided the best way to promote themselves in Latvia would be to dig a big hole in the country and set it on fire.
The trespass, property damage and arson was meant to simulate a meteor strike, presumably because "meteor" and "mobile phone" both start with an M. We really can't think of any other connection. The strike was "luckily" captured by a student film crew who happened to be in the area -- what were the odds? -- so even their cover story sounded like lies.
Because nothing says "great mobile phone service" like "huge, fiery explosion."
The con was quickly unraveled by clues like the meteor still being in one perfect piece and actually on fire (things real meteors usually aren't after slamming into the Earth); the way the meteor seemed to have dug its own crater with spades; and how blades of grass inside the crater revealed either a distinct lack of fiery explosion, or that grass has its own Bruce Willis.
Latvian military forced to waste their goddamn time
It turns out that wasting police, fire department and army time is still illegal, even when you're offering great rates on local calls, and Tele2 has been backpedaling so hard they risk reversing the Earth's rotation. They did it "to draw attention away from Latvia's economic crisis and toward something else more interesting," insisted spokeswoman Vita Sirica, who then offered to pay all the bills of the emergency services before wringing her hands and just hoping really hard her company doesn't get sued to bits or lose business.
It didn't work. Latvian Interior Minister announced on national television "The Interior Ministry doesn't want to do business with a firm that promotes itself at our expense," cutting all contracts with the company. Understand: Tele2 could have turned its networks off for the day, replacing all calls with the sound of tortured puppies, and still not have lost that much business.
And now the link:
http://www.sfexaminer.com/world/66407217.html
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