Carrie movie stunt scares coffee shop customers and the Sikh community fight prejudice in the US

 10th October 2013    Good and Bad PR 

'Carrie' movie stunt scares customers at coffee shop

The video says it all. Sony set up this absolutely brilliant stunt to publicise the remake of the film ‘Carrie’, based on a novel by Stephen King. Customers in a US coffee shop were terrified by the seemingly telekinetic power of an angry customer who sent a man, books and tables flying.

The stunt has earned the movie miles of advance coverage, including a story in ‘The New York Times’.

Now, only if our local horror movie industry could come up with such stunts. Are the Ramsay brothers listening?

Take a look at the video here:

Sikh community fight prejudice in the US with grace

The Sikh community in the US have been the target of vicious hate crimes, due to an irrational prejudice against the stately turbans they wear. Ignorant people in the US sometimes associate the turban with Osama Bin Laden, unaware of what the Turban stands for in the Sikh community and the fact that they have nothing do with Osama.

According to the Times of India a recent study, 'Turban Myths', undertaken by Stanford researchers and SALDEF (the Sikh American Legal Defence and Education Fund), found that there was a tendency to associate turbans with Osama bin Laden.

To create awareness against this prejudice, a group of American Sikhs have set up the Surat Initiative. The Times of India says that: “Their strategy is simple: walk up to ordinary American citizens with the offer to tie a turban for them and explain what it signifies in their religion and culture. And what it feels like to stand out and be different."

According to the Times of India: “The activist group Sikh Coalition also got Walmart and RiteAid to pull off their shelves a so-called Osama costume that consisted of a stick-on beard and a turban. "If you lost a loved one during the 9/11 attacks or during our nations war against al Qaida, or if someone attacked your father in a hate crime because he wears a turban, I doubt this costume would make you comfortable," argued Sikh Coalition director of law and policy Rajdeep Singh.”

Great initiative to peacefully fight vicious prejudice with grace and harmony.



Durga Pandals become more universal this Durga Puja

It’s festival time right now and both Navaratras and Durga Puja are in full swing across most of India, barring the South.

Durga Puja pandals in Kolkata, are featuring themes, which helps to make the festival universal. According to a story in the Times of India, from: “Rajasthan forts and an Orissa fishing village to Harry Potter's magical world and the exploitation of tribes —all are finding a place in the pandals.”

Artist Sanatan Dinda has: “With his 24-member team, Dinda turned the puja pandal of a west Kolkata club into a massive piece of installation art around the theme of conversation.” The Nirbhaya case is the theme at a Salt Lake puja. Designed at a budget of Rs 55 lakh, the demons featured in the pandal art are, of course, men. 

This process of including relevant social themes has been going for a while. According to the Times of India, two years ago: “Goddess Durga got a major makeover at two puja pandals in Kolkata: darker skin, softer features and, somehow, a more 'Indian' look. Behind this makeover was filmmaker Goutam Ghose, who wanted Durga to look like she did before the British set foot on the sub-continent. Since then, many idols have even begun sporting Dravidian features."

A welcome move away from the fair skin obsessed Indian.

Have you seen any great or even bad PR?

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