Good PR of the week
 

Double-bed screening
 

The Electric Cinema in Notting Hill, London has installed double beds in the front row in a PR effort people seem to have loved this week.

The owners of the cinema took out 14 seats and placed six double beds in their place, in what is thought to be a first in the UK. A spot in a bed will set you back £18 per person, though it’s unclear whether or not there’s a discount for couples, because – well, you wouldn’t want to share it with anybody else, would you? Fingers crossed it results in actual revenue for the cinema too.

Nick Jones of Soho House is behind the idea. His media-friendly quote read: “there used to be smooching in the back row, now there will be smooching in the front row under a blanket.”

Thanks to Jonathon O’Connor for letting me know about this.

Singing in the aisles
 

Jamaica’s best known legal mind-altering export, Red Stripe (and Paul Weller’s favourite lager, my super-fan dad creepily told me a few years ago) was the subject of a well-shared musical campaign this week.

A corner shop in East London played host to the below stunt, where as soon as customers lifted a can from the fridge, a clang-happy version of The Specials’ A Message to You Rudy brought the shop to life, with rigged products, bottles and brushes combining to create a euphonic ska performance that fans of Be Our Guest from Beauty and the Beast will appreciate!

There’s a brilliant “making of” video here, too:

Taylor Herring was the agency behind the effort, read all about this campaign here.

Spotted this thanks to Alex Judd.

Bad PR of the week
 

Hitting the wrong note
 

A campaign to promote video game Hitman was pulled by Square Enix, after it was hit with a backlash online. The company has since apologised.

The campaign allowed users to “put a hit on friends”, asking them to login using Facebook and highlighting how the friend/target is identifiable, including:

• His hairy back
• Her awful make-up
• His/Her ginger hair
• His/Her annoying laugh
• His/Her strange odour
• His/Her big ears
• Her muffin top
• Her hairy legs
• Her small tits

You’re then asked to select the reason for ‘target elimination’, which includes:

• He supports a crap football team
• He’s cheating on his partner
• He farts too much

(And others).

Once the “hit” was ordered, a link was sent to friends on Facebook to sign in and watch a video of their hit, which told them why you wanted them killed, using images taken from their Facebook profile.

Many people called the campaign “sexist” – a questionable assertion given it took the Michael out of both men and women – but whatever you thought of it, Square Enix managed to pull it, redirecting traffic to the microsite it built to the game’s official site, before it attracted the attention of wider media.

Airline sinks to low depths
 

Despite my agreement with South Park’s creators and Ricky Gervais that there’s nothing that shouldn’t be laughed at and that offence is something taken, not given, I, for professional reasons, have to advise clients about tact, especially online.

In the second instance of what many would consider poor judgement, Air New Zealand ran a competition this week, in which it gave people the chance to win prizes by opening a virtual Christmas cracker.

Those who didn’t win were offered a consolation joke. One suggested a female shot putter had testicles. The joke read:

Q: What large heavy ball was responsible for Valerie Adams' gold medal?

A: The Belarusian's left testicle

The joke was a reference to Belarusian athlete Nadzeya Ostapchuk, who was stripped of her Olympic gold medal this year following a positive drug test for anabolic steroids. New Zealander Valerie Adams was then awarded the gold.

People reacted angrily, to which Air New Zealand responded, ''Not everyone likes our xmas cracker jokes so tell us your tacky kiwi jokes & we'll add our favourites into the cracker.''

Thanks to Tom Richards for emailing with this one!

Have you seen any good or bad PR?
 

Contact PR Rich Leigh with it by tweeting him @GoodandBadPR or by emailing rich@10yetis.co.uk throughout the week and we’ll happily credit you for your trouble.

Good and Bad PR is a feature on the blog of 10 Yetis PR Agency.