Giant mango theft is PR stunt… probably

A giant ten-metre-high mango model owned by the tourist board of Australian town Bowen has disappeared in what appears to be a publicity stunt.

The story goes that tourist attraction, built in 2002 to promote Bowen’s status as a mango growing district, was discovered missing on Monday morning and that CCTV footage showed a suspicious looking truck arriving at the site. However, the speed and effectiveness of the publicity campaign to retrieve the mango, led by Sydney marketing firm Banjo Advertising, has led many to believe it’s all a publicity stunt.

Either way it’s a clever campaign – either turning misfortune into a great bit of positive PR or developing the kind of guerilla marketing campaign that gathers worldwide coverage across all media forms all for the price of a crane and press release.

Update 25/2/14: It was Nando’s! The chicken restaurant chain has admitted ‘borrowing’ the Big Mango and has promised more information on Friday. Presumably it’s for some sort of mango related product launch. I can’t help but think they’ve overplayed their hand here, especially as the Big Mango has actually been found hidden nearby.

Update: It was all to promote their new Mango & Lime flavoured chicken. Here’s the video in which Nando’s show how the mango was ‘borrowed’:

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