'Terror Marketing Campaign' Leads to Lawsuit

Imagine receiving an e-mail from man who claims he knows you, although you have never heard of him. Moreover, he and an accomplice are on the lam from the police and headed to your house to lay low until the heat is off.

The e-mail reads, “Amber mate! Coming 2 Los Angeles. Gonna lay low at your place for a bit till it all blows over.” It comes from an Englishman named Sebastien Bowler. It even contains a link to his My Space page. The next e-mail makes it apparent that he knows numerous details about you including your address or, at least, your former address. Another e-mail refers to a hotel room the man trashed, an invoice for the damages and ends with an ominous threat, “After I'm done visiting you, I'm going to go back and sort out that front desk Muppet.” That is exactly what happened to Amber Duick. Duick reacted probably no differently than anyone else would. She warned the resident of her former address of the impending threat. She had her boyfriend sleep with a club and a can of mace. And, she was terrified. She lost her appetite and had trouble sleeping. She “found it extremely difficult to work,and her job performance suffered.... [She] was unable to perform her job duties at standard levels.” The good news is that Amber Duick survived the ordeal unharmed. The bad news is that their was no man headed to her house. In fact, there was no man. She had been 'punk'd' in a terrifying marketing campaign developed by world famous advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi for their client Toyota. The elaborate scheme was a 'terror marketing campaign' for the recently introduced Toyota Matrix. Understandably, Duick responded with a lawsuit for $10 million. Advertisements asked for people who wanted to play a prank on a friend. Those selected were then required to forward an e-mail including a personality test and a recommendation that they had completed it and it was amusing. When the person clicked through the initial screens of the test they were, unbeknownst to themselves, also granting permission to participate in a marketing campaign. Specifically, a prank. According to Toyota's attorneys, Toyota is not liable as Duick agreed to participate. Duick's attorney, Nick Tepper, disagrees:

So if [Duick] signed something, she's informed that she's signing 'A,' but in fact, she's signing something else....It's written and it is consent, but you're not informed about the thing that you're actually signing up for? It'didn't say someone was going to be stalking my client. It was premised upon keeping my client in the dark, upon fooling her that these e-mails were real.

The case has yet to go to trial and Toyota denies any liabiity as Duick 'opted in.'