News : MINI names lethal weather front ‘Cooper’ in PR gaffe

AROnline Calendar IconFebruary 2, 2012 · AROnline Card Iconadmin · AROnline Comments Icon24 Comments
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BBC News Europe

An advertising agency for BMW has paid to name a cold weather front sweeping Europe ‘Cooper’ in Germany, after the carmaker’s Mini Cooper. But the public-relations stunt by the agency went wrong after the freezing conditions led to dozens of deaths.

Germany’s meteorology institute allows the sponsorship of weather systems. On its website, advertising agency Sassenbach says that naming the front after the open-air vehicle was a ‘wind- and weather-proof idea’. It is encouraging people to follow the path of the weather on meteorological websites.

While the snow and ice have brought some stunning scenes across Europe, the freezing temperatures have led to at least 100 deaths, mainly in Poland and Ukraine.
In Ukraine alone, nearly 950 people are being treated in hospital with hypothermia and frostbite, the Associated Press news agency reports. The Munich-based advertising agency said it was no longer commenting on the unfortunate correlation between the progress of the severe weather and the car it sought to publicise. It has also named a warmer weather front to follow ‘Minnie’.

BMW has apologised for the stunt, which cost the advertising firm €229 (£190). In a statement, the carmaker said it could not influence exactly when names for weather fronts would be used, or what a weather system would do. It said it deeply regretted that the weather front had taken on ‘catastrophic proportions’ and claimed so many lives.

The meteorological institute’s ‘Adopt a Vortex’ scheme has been running since 2002, with the money raised helping to fund weather monitoring at Berlin’s Free University. The institute is the only one outside the US which names weather systems.

[Source: BBC]


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AROnline Calendar IconFebruary 2, 2012 · AROnline Card Iconadmin · AROnline Comments Icon24 Comments
AROnline Tag IconTags: ,  · Posted in: News

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24 Responses

  1. Will M - February 2, 2012

    Epic fail.

    The advertising only cost £190 though? Bargain!

  2. Frankie the 75 nut Frankie the 75 nut - February 2, 2012

    @ Will M.

    Epic fail indeed.

    We shouldn’t laugh and take it lightly, it’s not funny…(snigger, snigger).

  3. Mark Mastro Mark Mastro - February 2, 2012

    Quality :)

  4. Luke McCormack - February 2, 2012

    Oh dear. That really is a PR blunder.

  5. Peaksteve - February 2, 2012

    You’re never alone with a MINI.

  6. Rob C Rob C - February 2, 2012

    Don’t mention the war! I may have once, but I think I got away with it…

  7. H.Jones - February 2, 2012

    New ad for the Mini Cooper JCW just in- New Works Mini Cooper. At minus 20, the coolest hot hatch in the world!

  8. Frankie the 75 nut Frankie the 75 nut - February 2, 2012

    @ Rob C.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDGEl2Adwqc

  9. francis brett - February 2, 2012

    who cares?

  10. Paul - February 2, 2012

    Is “Epic Fail” a “cool” expression to use these days?

  11. Will M - February 2, 2012

    yes.

  12. Andrew Elphick - February 2, 2012

    There is an ILL WIND blowing through these comments…..

  13. Frankie the 75 nut Frankie the 75 nut - February 2, 2012

    @ Paul. It’s annoying but somehow I like it. Epic has somehow wormed it’s way into my everyday language.

    @ Andrew Elphick. Lol.

  14. Will M - February 2, 2012

    Andrew, I wasn’t expecting such a cold reception to shooting the breeze. An avalanche of puns to follow. Snow joke.

  15. Frankie the 75 nut Frankie the 75 nut - February 2, 2012

    @ Will M. He was WHITE OUT of order. :-D

  16. Marty B - February 3, 2012

    Zee PR men hafe been zent to zee cooler vor 2 veeks vor ziss blunder.

  17. Ken Strachan - February 3, 2012

    Chill out chaps!

  18. MG Midget - February 3, 2012

    I am not surprised this news has met with a frosty reception

  19. Wasequiped - February 3, 2012

    Double fail as those low temperatures could set of the window freeze fault that can happen opening the doors

  20. francis brett - February 3, 2012

    cool it now

  21. James H - February 4, 2012

    I’ll bet whoever came up with this idea gets the cold shoulder.. It’s certainly put the freeze on his career prospects…..
    At least it’s got BMW a blizzard of publicity, although I hear from now on they intend do have a media whiteout on the issue.

  22. Marty B - February 4, 2012

    Its SNOW laughing matter really. The PR dept will be slipping down the (SKI) slope to oblivion career wise

  23. Ian - February 4, 2012

    This is the exact kind of ridiculous thinking i’ve come to expect from the modern motor industry, and society in general. Well done you BMW for stubbornly refusing to buck the trend! :)

  24. Peter Harris - February 4, 2012

    Couldn’t have happened to a nicer company. Hail BMW.

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