DraftFCB are known for sneaky publicity stunts for their underdog telly client Prime. Weeds, Secret Diary of a Call Girl, classy pictures of willies in chalk on pavements.

So it was hardly surprising that they pulled out another underhanded trick for the launch of a new Prime show about the ad industry and its supposedly sexist, racist, groovy ways.

And they may have been able to take in many media - Fastline, the
Herald on Sunday, Scoop, Campaign Brief's NZ blog (twice) and news site silobreaker.com – but they aimed too high when they aspired to pull the wool over NBR's eyes while pitching us the story of the "agency's" launch for this Friday's print edition.

The "agency launch" was hardly credible from the start. Not only did the press release scream "career suicide" and "sexist pigs", the
website address was linked to moron mag Muckmouth, the agency's phone number was permanently on voicemail, and the supposedly plush premises at the Price Waterhouse Coopers building are in fact the home of virtual offices that provide clients with a phone number and "professional" business address for the bargain price of $360 a month.

Two ads on job sites for a "just a pretty face" type secretary nigh
screamed "set-up!". Invitations to a "launch party" at 13 Gore Street (the home of Mermaids strip bar) were sent out to agency heads.

But my suspicions were truly on red alert when a DraftFCB contact said "Everyone who might know anything is being unusually tight-lipped".

Given that ad people are never tight-lipped, much less when dishing the dirt on a supposedly-departed colleague, something was obviously amiss.

So not only did I pay DraftFCB a visit in person today to see if our
dear friend Mr Mitchell was still lurking around, I sent my blonde
bombshell spy on an undercover mission to level 27 in the PWC building to see if she could tease any information out of them. A receptionist seemed rather worried when Blondie asked for not only Mitchell and Dyer but also Royal Recruitment – the company that used to own the supposed M&D phone number. Blondie discovered that for Mitchell and Dyer, the lights might've been on, but no-one was home.

MintFCB head Justin Mowday was ultra-savvy in his reply to inquiries:

"I can't officially comment."

But it begs another question beyond the obvious "do journalists check their facts any more?" – and that is, when is lying to a journalist acceptable? In the pursuit of publicity, is anything fair game? What about making a reporter from one of those aforementioned media outlets look like an idiot among their colleagues, or worse, lose their job? I wonder if DraftFCB  thought about that before they launched their campaign and pitched me the story.

So where does this leave the concept of professionalism? More on that later - but feel free to add your two cents' worth. What price truth in PR?

See also: Bringing back the glory years of advertising [press release]

Male Art Director [job ad]

Secretary (21 and Under) [job ad]