Media, Er, Models: Embarrass People Into Buying Stories About Them

A man accused of raping a child bought every copy of the local paper he could find when the story of his arraignment hit the front page, reports Boston’s WHDH Channel 7.

Roland Hill bought out all the stores he could find in the downtown area and emptied a number of honor boxes, apparently to prevent others from seeing it in the paper. He was found, police said, with hundreds of papers in his van.

He produced receipts for $21 worth of papers, and so will not face additional charges, the Taunton Daily Gazette reports; however, numerous business owners had complained to the Gazette that someone had stolen all their papers for that morning, including bundles outside businesses that hadn’t yet opened for the day.

Question: Does nobody read TauntonGazette.com, where the rape story is currently the second most-popular?

And did Hill not realize that by creating more publicity, he’d only end up with more problems?

This is the “man steals paper” story online:

Oops!

And anyway, the paper didn’t get rich off his escapades since he only spent $21. But think of their circulation figures!

Join Baratunde Thurston (left), The Onion’s Director of Digital and author of How to Be Black, for an entertaining look at creative social media campaigns in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting this Thursday, February 16. Other speakers include Morin Oluwole (Facebook), Michael Brito (Edelman Digital), and Tim Devane (bitly). Register now.