'Speedy Effective Advertising' at it's best?

Recently I saw an article in a leading paper about a lady getting caught for driving a brand spanking new luxury sedan going WAY over the speed limit. The result: a R20,000 speeding fine and R3000 for not stopping, causing even more attention which probably helped it gain a FRONT page placement on a major paper.

Now I'm not saying that the event above was a setup (as I'm sure then a lot of hands will be thrown up), but I do recall hearing talk about things like this a few months back. And when you think about it, performance sells cars and having a strong, credible witness like the traffic police to back up the speed and handling ... dealers of the car involved are bound to be visited and ultimately sales made.

It's quite easy to set it up - Give someone (preferrably not easy to trace back to you) your prized new product with one condition, they get a sensational speeding ticket and just pay the price which is very small compared to the selling price of their new car. Hell ... you can even pay the "purchase" off over a few months, it's like the traffic department's finance department giving you a temp credit card.

I wouldn't be surprised the next time I get pulled over I get asked "Mrrr. Inggs, six months no interest or 12 months with, which would you prefer meneer?". If you get caught regularly doing over 200 km/h you get promoted to the "platinum status card". That will be a common card in KZN then.

Of course, though, before your new PRO hits the road with the car to break the land speed record you need your copywriters to come up with a good story that isn't transparent, a safe route and the right contacts.

Getting back to the newspaper article. I don't understand how it made front page as inside it had much more important news that could've been placed there instead. Fine, I understand that there was little space left after a large article regarding royal matters but placing an article there that just boasts about how fast it was going, how the car got away and no mention on KZN's crack down on speedsters and holiday road safety ... just seems weird. After all, a free article is a lot cheaper than a R60,000 advert.

Well, as for if things like this are happening or if my creativity is doing overtime will never be known as I'm sure there would be trouble if word got out these incidents are paid publicity stunts ... but there are always eager people out there wanting to tell their secret and increase their ego!