The release of thousands of red balloons to publicize a videogame earlier this year has resulted in a fine being levied against the marketing company responsible.
The stunt took place in San Francisco during this year’s Game Developers Conference in March and was meant to publicize the release of THQ’s Homefront on March 15. The game centers around a North Korean invasion of the United States. 10,000 red balloons were released as part of a staged protest meant to “simulate a method used by South Korea to send messages of hope to the North,” according to a statement THQ issued at the time. The balloons contained a message about pre-ordering the game at GameStop, which claimed it was unaware of the stunt until after it happened.
