Bernaisesource

I read John Miller's AP story with relish and fries.  Apparently two Boise, Idaho city employees recently made a midnight run to a Burger King drive-through atop two Zambonis.  According to the story, the two big ice-resurfacing machines were not damaged in the mile and half round trip trek.  The two employees were fired after their actions were reported by an anonymous tipster. 

Now if you are the keepers of the Burger King PR flame, how would you respond?  Is it a Whopper of an opportunity or a King-sized headache?.  Ahh the joys of having it your way.

In the PR 1.0 era, you may have avoided the controversy.  These days where two guys with some Mentos and Diet Coke can become overnight celebrities, where people get their news from Comedy Central and amateur videos are the rage on YouTube, companies need to be nimble and embrace user-generated content and oddball opportunities -- even if doing so incurs risk.  And in the case of Burger King, a little risk seems consistent with their ad campaigns. 

So if you were the King for the day, would you reach out to those city employees or hope the whole incident blows over?  Post your thoughts.  Maybe the good folks at Crispin Porter, Burger King's ad agency, will feature your ideas in an ad campaign.

Let me get back to you.

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