Giant Filly Goes to Philly

Following on the heels of setting a new Guinness World Record for the largest beach balls, in Dallas, Texas, Carnival Cruise Line took to the mean streets of Philadelphia for an even bigger feat — the unveiling of the world’s largest piñata in the shape of a 60-plus-foot-tall multicolored donkey.

In 2008 the line was ready to launch a new campaign, “Fun for All. All for Fun,” featuring Todd Rundgren’s “Bang the Drum All Day.” The line decided to preview the campaign by doing two “citywide take-over” events in Dallas and Philadelphia, each surrounding an official Guinness World Record stunt and each resulting in a 30-second TV commercial.

I said the “mean streets” of Philadelphia, because we arrived at the City of Brotherly Love right after the Philadelphia Phillies had beaten the Tampa Bay Rays to win the 2008 World Series. The doorman at our hotel suggested we stay at the hotel rather than venture out into the wilds of the city because Philadelphians were still celebrating the win as they traditionally do — by rampant, drunken hooliganism in the streets.

So we — me and a couple of Carnival PR folks — stood on the steps of the hotel, swilling beer and watching the petty acts of vandalism that constitute Philly-style celebration: climbing greased light poles, burning trash and tipping over cars.

The next day we got our first look at the dingus. It stood 60 feet, 4 inches long; 23 feet, 10.5 inches wide, and 61 feet, 10.25 inches tall in the middle of a large paved lot fenced in with chain-link. It was, even to a jaded PR guy, an impressive sight.

The thing was crafted in California, then transported in pieces on three semi tractor-trailers and assembled in Philadelphia. It also was allegedly stuffed with 4 tons of candy. There was even a crane with a papier maché wrecking ball to simulate cracking open the piñata.

The guy from Guinness had already taken all the measurements using a lift crane to reach the top of the thing. So it was officially the World’s Largest Piñata.

Here’s a homemade video of the event:

Carnival had run a series of street activations during the preceding week to gin up interest in the event on Sunday, Nov. 2, to which the public was invited. However, nobody expected a crowd of thousands of people pushing to get inside the fence. As the crowd grew — and grew increasingly restive — it was clear that organizers had done little to prepare for a crowd of this size.

Apparently, the Philadelphia Police Department felt the same way, and suddenly a couple of dozen motorcycle cops showed up and, using bullhorns, began to tell the people to peacefully disperse and go home. Ever so slowly, the Philadelphians left the lot, tugging disappointed children by the hand, as the parents hollered Philly-style epithets at the police.

Remember, all this was for a TV commercial. But earlier in the day, with a band of about 50 paid extras, the video crew had shot several takes of the crowd approaching the donkey along with the crane wielding a large fake wrecking ball that ostensibly was going to be used to break open the donkey. But after the crowd debacle, taping ended for the day.

So, they disassembled the donkey, loaded it onto three semis, took it back to California, put it back together and finished shooting the commercial on a sound stage.

So, why was I there? To this day I can’t tell you — it wasn’t to do public relations. I suppose in the end, it was so I could bear witness to one of the biggest, costliest marketing stunts ever.