Comedy Central ups ‘Anger Management’ with the Destruct O Matic app

 16th January 2014    Good and Bad PR 

Comedy Central ups ‘Anger Management’ with the Destruct O Matic app!

Gamification is the name of the game with social communication this year. India has embraced gamification with a vengeance. After the producers of Sholay and Snickers both used games to promote their brands, TV channel Comedy Central has now come up with a neat little app, the Destruct O Matic to publicise Anger Management.

The Charlie Sheen show is fairly popular in India and now fans can vent their anger in as many as 7 different ways including a baseball bat to an electric shocker to a frying pan to let out your rage. It would have been better fun if they included more Indian motifs such as a cricket bat or that all-purpose Indian weapon a lathi instead though.

You can also tag your friends on Facebook or Twitter in your tirades; ten of the best justifications’ for your ‘vent’ will win you Comedy Central goodies.

Bad PR

UP Government blacks out Times Now and refuels bad press

Last week we wrote about the Saifai Mahaotsav in Uttar Pradesh and the presence of Bollywood stars in a multi crore extravaganza organised by the UP government even as the people in camps in Muzaffarnagar suffered.

In spite of a week of clumsy attempts to handle the bad press, made worse by Akhilesh Yadav saying that: "The media should apologise to me, and to Netaji (Mulayam Singh, his father) for their reports on Saifai," and describing the Saifai Mahaotsav as a part of the state's policy to boost tourism.

The story was on its way out when the UP government gave it fresh fuel by ‘unofficially’ blacking out ‘Times Now’ from cable TV networks for a full day in Uttar Pradesh. ‘Times Now’ had taken the lead in criticising the event, devoting an hour of prime time to the story led by the face of the channel Arnab Goswami.

Blacking out the media no longer works in a society that is increasingly moving towards transparency, it only riles up people even more. Seems like the politicians in UP are yet to get that particular circular.

Have you seen any great or even bad PR?

Write to Paarul Chand at paarul@prmoment.in or tweet @PaarulC or @PRmomentIndia throughout the week and we’ll happily credit you for your trouble.