• by Amy Corr , Staff Writer @MediaPostOTL, September 18, 2006

Earlier this year, Greenspon Advertising Southeast created and executed an ad buy in men's urinals throughout 50 bars and restaurants in Charlotte, N.C. promoting the ECHL hockey team, the Charlotte Checkers.

The campaign simply featured a Charlotte Checkers branded hockey puck in the urinal. That's all. Nothing more.

The campaign got out of hand, however, and made its way into dirty hands when the hockey pucks started disappearing.

That's right; people were stealing the hockey pucks. This is disgusting on so many levels--but the agency didn't skip a beat and launched a mock PSA playing off the dirty puck thefts. Interestingly enough, the agency had trouble getting the pucks placed in the urinals in the first place. But no trouble getting them out.

Greenspon created a thirty-second mock radio PSA featuring the president of the Charlotte Checkers, Jeff Longo. Click here to listen to the ad.

"Recently we placed Charlotte Checkers hockey pucks in various men's urinals around town, thinking that no one will steal a urine-soaked hockey puck," says Longo.

Interspersed between Longo's pleas for hand sanitizing, we hear aSouthern-accented voice say, "hey, look what I found... a hockey puck," followed by someone asking, "you flushed before you pulled that out, right?"

Longo describes how he was wrong to think that people wouldn't steal urine-soaked hockey pucks and "in an effort to avoid a public health emergency, we're giving away Checkers pucks."

The spot drove listeners to GoCheckers.com/puckhead for information on how to get their hands on clean, urine-free hockey pucks.

The spot ended with Longo pleading, "and whoever you are, please, wash your hands."

An outdoor campaign component featured a taped-up hockey stick with copy written on the tape: "The disgusting thing is not that we're going to play with that puck. It's that we're going to shove it down Greenville's throat Friday night." The ad also contained the dates of numerous Checkers home games.

The stolen hockey pucks reminded me of the fact that many athletes, Moises Alou of the Chicago Cubs for instance, urinate on their hands to toughen up their skin.

But is a $1 hockey puck worth testing the theory? Since it is to some, this season's follow-up campaign should be sponsored by Purell.