The Yoghurt promotion fiasco

While researching radio stunts recently, I was reminded of the famous marriage organised by BRMB in Birmingham where the station married off two complete strangers who were listeners of the show. Another good one was the dry ice stunt, where participants in an endurance test were encouraged to sit on dry ice for hours on end, resulting in a number of them getting frost bite. This affair culminated in a protracted legal dispute.

However, nothing seems as ridiculous as the Yoghurt promotion fiasco, instigated by Nassau Radio in NY State. A young female bookkeeper claimed she lost her hair after entering a world record yoghurt eating competition, organised by a PR at Nassau County Radio. Encouraged to go for the record by the radio’s publicist, the woman had already eaten over 50 pots of yoghurt. Unfortunately, no one could know that a batch had been impregnated by beetles. She bit into one, thinking it was a raspberry, only to realise it was a beetle, squirming and alive. The shock resulted in almost immediate hair loss. She was later awarded $425,000 for the trauma.