Plane Stupid turf Virgin Atlantic out of their seats at the PR awards

21.10.2009   (Plane  Stupid website and Media Monkey)


 

Last night seven Plane Stupid activists and one Heathrow resident popped over
to the PR Week Awards and
hijacked a table reserved for Virgin Atlantic. Virgin Atlantic have been strong advocates for the third runway at Heathrow
and expansion of Britain’s airports, which we thought they shouldn’t get away
with.

Dressed in glamourous evening wear, the activists entered the glitzy awards,
which celebrates the highlights of the year’s public relations work. They occupied
Virgin Atlantic’s table and refused to leave.

Christine Taylor, who lives next door to Heathrow and whose mother is due to
lose her home if Heathrow’s third runway goes ahead said:

It’s crazy to build more runways around London – we already have six. My mother
wants to live out her days in her own home, but the bully boys of aviation think
their profits are more important. Tonight at the PR awards we gave them a taste
of what it’s like to be turfed out of your rightful place.

http://www.planestupid.com/blogs/2009/10/21/plane-stupid-turf-virgin-atlantic-out-their-seats-pr-awards

 

and

 

Media Monkey

  

 

Protesters fly in for PR Week awards

 

PR industry gets a taste of its own medicine as Plane Stupid protestors drop
in to celebrate the art of public relations

 

You couldn’t make it up: PR awards bash halted… by PR stunt. The great and
the good of the UK PR industry got a bit of their own medicine at the annual
PR Week magazine awards last night. The swanky black tie affair, held at Grosvenor House on

Park Lane

, was infiltrated by members of airport activist group Plane Stupid. The interlopers
targeted the table booked by Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic. A kerfuffle ensued
during the dinner phase of the evening which reportedly resulted in five police
vehicles – and as many as 20 bobbies – turning up removing the Plane Stupid members. One awards goer said that in the resulting melee “one girl [was] being
pinned to the floor by about five police”. “It was a pretty blue chip response
being in

Park Lane

,” added another attendee. “There was an immense commotion, we think they must
have handcuffed themselves under the table as the place was swimming with staff.
We thought it was an embarassing stripogram or something, I mean you don’t expect
a stunt at the PR Week awards do you?” After about an hour of disruption the awards
were just getting underway, hosted by Alexander Armstrong, when one Plane Stupid
member who had eluded capture heckled the host. A shoo-in for best stunt of the
year at next year’s PR Week bash, surely?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/mediamonkeyblog