• Ad Age, Tuesday, November 30, 2010 12:02 AM

In a Procter & Gamble promotion gone drastically wrong in Brazil last week, the bomb squad was summoned after panicked residents called the police on Wednesday to report two large wooden crates abandoned in public squares in an upscale beach area in Rio de Janeiro. The city of 6 million was already on edge after days of fighting between violent drug gangs and heavily-armed police.

The suspect crates were intended to be a teaser promotion for P&G's biggest-ever sweepstakes in Brazil, called "P&G Faustão's Airplane," with multiple drawings to be held on the Sunday afternoon variety show hosted by Fausto Silva, Brazil's most popular TV host. Six lucky winners will each win the equivalent of an airplane full of more than $100,000 worth of prizes, including two cars, bars of gold, everything needed to fully outfit an entire home, and of course multiple P&G products. P&G quickly canceled plans to distribute more mystery wooden crates.

Read the whole story at Ad Age »