Further confirmation reaches me that PR people should never work
with animals after independent PR consultant Gerry mac Griogair ran into
problems over a reptile.
Mac Griogair handles PR for Lancashire firm BSB Electronics and was
charged with launching its new security product Chameleon. He hit on the
ruse of obtaining a live chameleon for a West Midlands photo call.
A local reptile breeder supplied the chameleon, called Charlie, and mac
Griogair set to work on the launch. But at the 11th hour Charlie kicked
the bucket, leaving our intrepid PR man without a star for the show.
’I was trying to focus media attention on the drive for a new product
but the client was faced with a dying animal story,’ mac Griogair tells
me.
As luck would have it he was able to procure a replacement chameleon at
short notice. By bizarre coincidence the International Herpetological
Society, a dedicated band of reptile worshippers, was convened near
Birmingham and mac Griogair managed to procure a chameleon called Karma
from one of the delegates.
The day after the shoot things took a spooky turn when Boy George
announced that Culture Club were reforming and Karma Chameleon returned
to the airwaves.
