Quite often, we find that PR opportunities come out of less-than-stellar moments – a company hit by disaster uses the opportunity to show the media how the company puts employees first, or a celebrity turns a drug arrest into a PR opp by donating $100,000 to a drug rehab program.
But this one’s a little more down-home…or NEAR-home, rather.
It seems that Mr. Joseph Carnevale, 21, of Raleigh, N.C. likes art – especially that kind of art that gets made from raw materials he didn’t pay for. In this case, those materials were three road construction barrels that he proceeded to cut up and turn into what appears to be a hitchiking statue.
Well, unfortunately, a company actually owns these three barrels, and police caught up with Carnevale to let him know this – in the form of an arrest and two misdemeanor charges. $360 worth of damage and one super-awesome piece of art later and I’m wondering… what happens now?
If you’re Hamlet Associates of Climax NC (I did not make that up FTR) you’re probably going to let justice run it’s twisted course and move on.
But what if they seized this opportunity. I mean, what happens to that piece of art? Why not attach a sign to with a message about construction zone safety? Why not have Carnevale make 10 more and parter with the DOT…take the statues to public school and have road safety days. Or bring the statue to public events to educate the public about the dangers of speeding in construction zones. While I don’t totally agre with Mr. Carnevale’s atistic methods, I do think there’s a way to turn these lemons oranges into lemonade orange juice.
There’s a PR opportunity in just about anything if you dig deep enough.
*photo source: thesmokinggun.com
