Our favourite trade magazine The Grocer today brought us news of discount retailer Lidl’s near enormous PR gaffe.
Bodmin is renowned for some strange goings on but this took the (cheap) biscuit.
Even putting its Germanic roots to one side, planning to open a new store at 11am on the 11th November when the UK descends into respectful silence was crazy enough. The local Mayor and British Legion were amongst those to be upset about the saga and luckily the company had a change of heart and delayed for a day.
Was this really an oversight that had the potential to gain them scorn on and offline or was it a planned PR stunt designed to court controversy and garner vital column inches?
If it was a stunt the other goings on dominating today’s media agenda meant they didn’t achieve that but equally we’ll never know if the shocking student protest news actually helped bury their own blunder. Answers on a postcard please.