10 Insane Marketing Stunts That Were Used To Sell Video Games
4. Parents Were Offered Money To Call Their Kids Turok (Turok: Evolution)
Another Acclaim Entertainment entry, the company often tested how far they could push the ludicrousness of their marketing tactics, and the way they promoted Turok: Evolution might be their wackiest stunt of the lot.
Choosing a baby name can prove difficult for many parents-to-be, so Acclaim decided they would try and help. But instead of suggesting a "normal" name for parents to brand their kids with, the publisher attempted to get people to call their newborns Turok, using a $10,000 savings bond as an incentive to do so.
In order to win that money, parents who were expecting a child on or around 1 September 2002 (the game's launch window) had to be willing to legally change their kid's name to Turok for one full year. Whichever child was born the earliest on 1 September would win. Simple! There were no catches, no tricks and no ploys: just call your baby Turok for a year and win ten grand. Not too shabby.
Inevitably, Acclaim came under fire for this stunt, despite it being the parents' choice to take part. And really, doesn't "Baby Turok" have a nice ring to it?