PR Stunt or Mistake

Commenters speculate on whether a company's controversial announcement or action, which sparked backlash and was often quickly reversed, was a genuine error, hack, or intentional PR/business strategy.

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Keywords

sivers.org HA P.S PAC PR TT N9 CEO more.They stunt publicity reason short term term plan killed pr stupidity controversy

Sample Comments

Latteland Aug 6, 2018 View on HN

I believe they claim they aren't really doing that. It could be the great negative attention forced them to say that wasn't their actual plan.

infecto May 23, 2025 View on HN

Ehhh who knows the true motives, it was a great PR move for them though.

guelo Jun 23, 2011 View on HN

Feels like an intentional leak, probably wanted to deflect some heat from people saying they should have stuck with the N9.

sudhirj May 23, 2014 View on HN

Think this was one of those cases where doing what's right by user also happened to be a crafty business move. They might have had it coming a while and decided to time it right.

bitL Jul 4, 2018 View on HN

Maybe it's the next hidden step and this one was just testing the waters for the level of public outcry?

smiley1437 Sep 6, 2024 View on HN

Any chance it's a legitimate screw up but they don't want to cause any Streisand effect?

greyhair Jun 2, 2020 View on HN

It is a bummer, but they messed up.Is it possible they were under financial duress anyway and were looking for attention grabbing move to garner support?I don't understand it, and I find it hard to believe that their legal counsel green lighted it.

cleak Jan 28, 2023 View on HN

I’d bet they anticipated the backlash, but thought it could be managed - some short term anger followed by long term profits. It so far hasn’t worked out that way, but these are still recent events; they may just wait to roll out changes more quietly.

arcanemachiner Aug 30, 2025 View on HN

It's possible that they were looking for a reason to do it anyway, and this was just the straw that broke the camel's back.I agree with you though: From the outside, this does seem like a strange response to the issue.

yeldarb Aug 25, 2021 View on HN

Wonder if this was all a publicity stunt to put pressure on their payment processors.