Television talkshow host Oprah Winfrey gave away a new Pontiac G6 sedan to each of the unsuspecting 276 members of her Chicago studio audience, a promotion that cost the Pontiac division of General Motors around $12 million. The stunt, dreamed up by the G6 launch team, marked the start of
the show's 19th season in the United States. "This may go down in history as the lowest-cost, biggest-bang-for-your-buck product launch in the history of automobiles," said Michael Bernacchi, professor of advertising and marketing at the University of Detroit. To prove the point, Pontiac officials said the vehicle's website received 242,000 hits in the 24 hours that followed the show. Any other day, that site averages about 30,000 hits. Winfrey said audience members were people whose family and friends had told the show's producers they needed a new car.
CHATTING DRIVER JAILED
A British driver who caused a fatal crash while talking on his mobile phone has been jailed for three years. Alan Milbanke, 32, was convicted of causing death by dangerous driving after phone records showed he had been talking on his mobile phone for two minutes before the head-on crash.
BRITS GO TOPLESS
The British are buying soft-top cars in record numbers, despite several rain-drenched summers. Registrations of new topless models rose to 77,946 in the eight months to the end of August, up 21 per cent over the 64,386 units sold over the same period last year. Sales of convertibles have steadily increased over the past 10 years, from 17,706 in 1994 to an estimated 115,000 this year.
WE ARE THE WORLD
The Wild West parade of cowboys and their horse-drawn wagons was ambling through downtown Cheyenne, Wyoming, the other day when parade marshal Clay Sullivan wheeled his horse away from the line-up towards a tow-truck driver hooking up a car parked on the route. Yessiree, pardners, Sullivan lassoed the towie, yanked him away from the car, and told him he was needlessly disrupting the parade. The towie said he was only doing his job. Sullivan said it could have waited until the parade passed by. The Associated Press says the argument will continue in court.
