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Man Pulls Fake Gun on Crowd in Splinter Cell Stunt

- By - Source : Tom's Guide US

Marketing gone wrong.

Splinter Cell: Conviction is a big budget release for Ubisoft, carrying on one of its modern franchises; and behind every big release is a rather large marketing budget. But not all big marketing schemes are good ones. One marketing for Splinter Cell: Conviction ended up scaring onlookers and bringing in armed police.

Last week, 20 people drinking outside a bar in Auckland, New Zealand dove for cover when they spotted a man with bandages around his hand carrying what appeared to be a gun. The man then pointed the gun at the customers outside, naturally terrifying them.

The police were called in and, thankfully, without any shootout were able to diffuse the situation when they discovered that the gun wasn't real and it was just a marketing stunt to promote the new Ubisoft game.

The incident was supposedly a mix up between promotion agency Monaco Corporation and another marketing company. "It was marketing gone wrong," said Monaco's marketing manager, Duane Mutu.

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babybeluga 04/23/2010 10:03 PM
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A marketing stunt? .....who the hell comes up with this stuff?

Jerky_san 04/23/2010 10:05 PM
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Wonder what they would of said if the cops shot him full of bullets.. "Best marketing stunt ever?" Since then it would make national headlines and make it the next MW2 "shoot up" scene scare..

FATAL STR1K3 04/23/2010 10:04 PM
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lucky he didn't get shot

babybeluga 04/23/2010 10:04 PM
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Ubisoft has a new type of DRM, Dreadfully Retarded Marketing.

1337_b0i 04/23/2010 10:08 PM
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At least it wasn't something like home invasion marketing.

igot1forya 04/23/2010 10:10 PM
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Marketing gone right... guess who just got free press for this stunt?

"It was marketing gone wrong", eh? sure it was... sure it was...

james_8970 04/23/2010 10:20 PM
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Marketing gone wrong? There is no such thing as marketing gone wrong. This story still spreads the word of the game. As much as I hate people that sue anything and everything I hope someone sues them for being dumb shits. Common sense should dictate that this is a bad idea, not that they seemed to care.

mlopinto2k1 04/23/2010 10:22 PM
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Oh god that is funnier than all hell. I can picture sitting at Stella's (here where I live) drinkin a tall one and seeing some guy with a patch over his right eye, crew cut, dirty, bandage on right hand with gun in right hand wearing a ragged brown short sleeve shirt and black jeans with a face to kill walking towards the crowd. LOL.

cracklint 04/23/2010 10:37 PM
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megamanx00 04/23/2010 10:45 PM
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Doh

HalJordan 04/23/2010 10:54 PM
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Think about all the people involved. Ubisoft, Monaco Corp., the unnamed marketing company, the actor himself...and no one along the line said, "Wait, this could be a bad idea."

Group Fail.

rob_neff 04/23/2010 10:54 PM
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Anyone remember the marketing stunt where a couple guys placed LED circuit boards all over Boston?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yigQGKaf2A

otacon72 04/23/2010 11:24 PM
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Too bad the cops didn't pull out their real guns and shoot his dumbass.

house70 04/23/2010 11:28 PM
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babybeluga :
Ubisoft has a new type of DRM, Dreadfully Retarded Marketing.


couldn't have said it better myself.

DM0407 04/23/2010 11:37 PM
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Lucky the customer wasn't packing...

sliem 04/23/2010 11:41 PM
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Stupid idiots

zoemayne 04/23/2010 11:47 PM
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invlem 04/23/2010 11:53 PM
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Good thing this didn't happen in the US, pretty sure he'd be dead or in the hospital right now

z0d 04/24/2010 12:22 PM
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He should get "fired"

Burodsx 04/24/2010 1:10 AM
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This marketing stunt could have ended with a bang.

bogcotton 04/24/2010 1:27 AM
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otacon72 :
Too bad the cops didn't pull out their real guns and shoot his dumbass.



Lol, he was probably just an innocent actor getting paid to do something rediculously stupid.

What I dont get is, where is the marketing side of this?

A dude with bandages aiming a gun at civilians?
Sam Fisher doesn't jump off a building and stab him or anything, so I don't see how it relates to the game in any way!?

It's just a terrifying man waving a gun.

gm0n3y 04/24/2010 2:10 AM
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Lets hope that in some roundabout way, this bankrupts Ubisoft.

ScoobyJooby-Jew 04/24/2010 2:23 AM
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first lightbrites, and now fake guns

lauxenburg 04/24/2010 2:49 AM
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Well, it would have been more appropriate if he put a random person into a headlock under gun point and then dragged them to a dark corner and knocked them out...

I feel that would have had some sort of bad after effect....

toastninja17 04/24/2010 3:08 AM
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Ubisoft FAIL

pojih 04/24/2010 3:19 AM
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rob_neff :
Anyone remember the marketing stunt where a couple guys placed LED circuit boards all over Boston? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yigQGKaf2A



Wow, didn't realize how long ago that was.

Was pretty funny though, when they evacuated the tunnel

micky_lund 04/24/2010 3:38 AM
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this isn't marketing gone wrong. this is marketing at its best people. they get the person, the police, the bar, and most importantly their game AND advertising agencies into the news. now everyone knows what splinter cell is....

awesome work...too bad if he'd gotten shot

Kadoka 04/24/2010 4:52 AM
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hmmmm, interest I want to see mod 2 and maybe assassins creed marketed in this style, "who's breach and clearing the store?"

Montezuma 04/24/2010 5:11 AM
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Perhaps Ubisoft sent the guy to kill those that pirate their games, but he got the wrong package and somewhere, some kid has killed all his friends with this "toy" rifle.

alyoshka 04/24/2010 10:13 AM
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I wonder what cooling did the cops use .......:) to keep their cards cool.....lol

anamaniac 04/24/2010 11:02 AM
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Jerky_san :
Wonder what they would of said if the cops shot him full of bullets.. "Best marketing stunt ever?" Since then it would make national headlines and make it the next MW2 "shoot up" scene scare..


Don't diss it.
The airport was the only part of MW2 I liked.
pojih :
Wow, didn't realize how long ago that was.Was pretty funny though, when they evacuated the tunnel


I wish I was there.
Best marketing stunt I've ever heard of. :D