LG had to scuttle an event in South Korea that was staged as promotional stunt in order to giveaway free phones; the company hung vouchers from balloons which could be redeemed for a free G2 phone.

The problem began as throngs of people showed up to the event armed with BB guns and knives on sticks in hopes of increasing their chances to successfully grab onto one of the vouchers. The BBC says that when LG released the 100 helium balloons, each with the free smartphone voucher, at the so-called G in the Cloud event, the crowd immediately surged forward.

The phones, which sell for KRW 950,000 in South Korea ($851; £550), would be given to people in possession of the voucher, the company said.

One blogger covering the event, said the PR event went awry as some people used BB guns to pop the balloons and grab the coupons:

"Some were using BB guns to shoot the balloons. As far as I know, there were only some 20 security guards. LG should have placed more security personnel as the event was already promoted via social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and leading local portals. Some of the injured were hospitalized."



(The above news clip is in Korean but the images pretty much mirror the story.)

In a statement, LG said that it would provide the proper medical treatment to those who were injured.

One regional TV channel has dubbed the scrum "World War G" - a comparison to the film World War Z in which zombies scramble over each other to climb over a wall.

You know why this is better than WWZ? Knives on sticks is why!