They do say there’s no such thing as bad publicity however bands should always be wary when trying to undertake publicity stunts.  A publicity stunt is an unusual, out of the ordinary activity which is undertaken in an effort to gain all important media coverage. When performed well, they can do just that; gain press/media exposure which in turn will help you be noticed by a new group of people.

Gaga’s wacky dresses ensured she got plenty of media coverage.

There was a time when Lady Gaga would wear outfits which secured her daily coverage in the press.  Done badly, however publicity stunts can backfire and seriously harm your career.

In 2010, rock band Imperial Stars parked their truck across the 101 Freeway stopping traffic to perform a gig on the roof of the truck.

How NOT to do a stunt.

They blocked traffic for two hours and enraged a LOT of people in the process. The stunt was “universally panned” and the band got three years probation and community service.  As we saw yesterday with Sandi Thom, sometimes if you get bad press your profile might not recover.

Tomorrow, we’ll have a look at activities which are newsworthy but won’t get you in that much trouble.

Further reading  http://www.laweekly.com/informer/2012/10/29/imperial-stars-101-freeway-stunt-earns-probation-community-service

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