Mediahustler

Take a homophobic (but now slightly more welcoming to the inclination having done a duet with openly gay musician Elton John) white rapper from Detroit and an English comedian playing a flamboyantly gay Austrian fashion reporter who, dressed as Icarus with bare ass cheeks on show, abseils from a height onto said rapper, sandwiching the latter’s head between his thighs and and aptly named “kugelsack”, prompting the hip-hop artist to exit the venue with his entourage and security personnel. Sounds a little surreal right?!

Well this actually happened at this years MTV Movie Awards between Eminem and Sacha Baron Cohen (in character as Bruno) in what appeared to be a stunt going massively wrong.

The rapper’s authentically disgusted expression and swift exit suggested he had indeed been the victim of a well-executed prank by the comedian which offered a great deal of irony considering the rapper is known doing similar things in his own music videos.  

Viewed globally by more than 100million people and then instantaneously uploaded to YouTube with views rocketing worldwide, the subsequent yet slight backlash from a ‘clearly staged’ stunt, MTV’s head writer, comedian Scott Aukerman cleared any confusion confessing on his blog that it was rehearsed saying “Yes, the Bruno/Eminem incident was staged. That’s all anyone wants to talk about, so let’s get it out of the way. They rehearsed it at dress and yes, it went as far as it did on the live show then.” – Word on the street though is that Slim Shady wasn’t expecting the Baron Cohen’s ass to be completely bare cheeks and if you consider Baron Cohen’s previous antics & shenanigans, he has never previously, or at least appeared to have rehearsed his stunts.

Aukerman’s statement suggests they would rather not touch upon the subject any further but people RECOGNISE, this is a PR’s wet dream…it has gone from an apparent pre-arranged joke to an international viral campaign crossing over to offline press creating awareness and buzz of both parties which I am sure has increased their profile massively, not to mention the still of Eminem straddled between Bruno’s cheeks which will remain a memorable image on everyone’s mind – the value of this is huge far surpassing that of a paid advert.

At a time when both are promoting their current projects, Eminem with his new album Relapse, the first record in five years and former Ali G & Borat star, Baron Cohen doing the rounds for his upcoming film Bruno this couldn’t have been better publicity for the two. The films traditional campaign has so far included an interview in women’s mag, Marie Claire in which the character appears to hijack the cover.

Interestingly Eminem’s album sales have topped the US Billboard album charts for a second week running, thanks to 211,000 more units being sold after a recent drop. I would like to see if internationally, the theatrical release of Bruno will break its expected box office sales (the story has even been used on the official film website to its advantage!).

Employing similar tactics when promoting his previous films, it is clear that Sacha Baron Cohen has managed to tap in to an area of PR that with precision planning and smart, creative and strategic employment can generate a vast amount of publicity far beyond the usual drab campaigns that films often push out.

This stunt in particular is a great highlight to viral content, it really shows the power of this format in the marketing mix. As a medium, when used, capitalised and distributed correctly it can create such a culture that builds and enforces strong brand recognition.

mediahustler wonders if this will surpass the popularity of the infamous Madonna, Britney & Christina kiss at MTV’s VMA’s back in 2003…?

In the meantime, if you haven’t seen it already check out below the hilarious trailer for upcoming Bruno…