Horrified PR consultants have been debating whether a ridiculous promotional stunt, in which a terrified donkey was forced to parasail over a Russian seaside resort, is possibly the worst public relations stunt ever.
The sadistic marketing caper was organised by a group of businessmen looking to advertise parasailing sessions at their private beach in the small village of Golubitskaya on the Sea of Azov in southern Russia.
Shocked sunbathers looked on in disbelief as the hapless donkey was strapped to a parachute and sent soaring several hundred feet over the sea, braying in fear as it was pulled along by a powerboat for about half an hour before being dumped into the sea and dragged to safety.
Children were reported to be in tears as several onlookers filmed the terrifying ordeal with their mobile phones.
The local police only found out about the incident after seeing mobile footage on national television and are now considering pressing criminal charges of animal cruelty.
No right-minded and sensitive PR practitioner would sanction such a heartless act and few in the profession disagree that the stunt was one of the cruellest ever.
But ironically the very idea of a donkey parasailing is both sufficiently bizarre and amusing enough to give the resort the best publicity it will probably ever have.
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