When you work for a newspaper, even a small community weekly like where I am now, there comes a time when everyone wants a piece of you. From birth announcement to obituary and so many things in between, so many want free publicity of some kind. There are also supersecretphantom lists on which my name appears, and my work address, that are used by marketing and public relations firms across the globe in attempts to weasel their way into print.
During my semi-illustrious fake-important media career (12 years now), I've gotten via U.S. mail (by no means an exhaustive list):
• A can of beer
• Fake dog poo
• Recipe books
• Obscure self-published novellas
• Copies of books I've actually heard of
• Calendars
• CDs
• DVDs
• Letters from prison inmates
• Free tickets to events
• A can of soup
And, just yesterday, this ...
... an inflatable biplane from Red Baron Pizza (along with a press kit and coupons, of course). The whole shebang game in a package resembling a pizza box, which is a no-brainer. Probably the most fun thing I've gotten in a while, besides the soup.
For the record, to get into the paper one needs only a compelling story and/or a local connection. Although bribes in the way of cool toys are not discouraged.
At least the dog poo was fake . . .
p.s. that airplane is seriously cool!
Hahahaha..that's terrific!! So are you allowed to accept this stuff? Did the Cutlet and the Riblet enjoy playing with it?
Cool boy toy!
Have you tried putting helium in the airplane?