UC - There's no give in this campaign though. Thirteen may give psychological trauma? It might, Maxi-Minor_Furie doesn't like it...
If PR plays with "mights", "maybes" and "it coulds" then that's fair enough, it's all part of the game. However, to actually get a newspaper to publish an article based on absolute, outright lies? I can't prove if 13 could cause psychological trauma or not, nobody could because it's subjective. Oblivion's queue suggests you can die, that's fine because it's within the context of the ride "theme". I don't believe that the seven dwarfs and Snow White exist, so when I go on the ride at Disney, I'm not fooled by the theme. In context it's different, plus, The daily Mail didn't pay somebody to write an article saying "you will die on Oblivion".
It's just overstepped a mark somewhere. It can be proven that the ride was built with the correct clearance in place, that the dummies are props for a publicity stunt and that this is not a standard way for the industry to check coaster safety.
It's a complete and utter lie that can pre proven to be untrue. If you spread it through social media and on your own site, then fine (people subscribe and absorb it in there own time and based on their own interest). However, it takes a lot to actually lie completely to the public, through a public channel (remember the paper is presenting a story it thinks is in the public interest and has paid somebody to do that work for them, and the public have purchased that paper expecting to be told the truth). People are paying for lies. Not grey areas, not ghosts and mystics, not themes "in the moment" but a pure lie for the benefit of Thorpe.
It shows no respect for the reporter, no respect for the newspaper brand and no respect for the readers of the paper. It's deliberately making a fool out of those people for the sake of publicity.
