Vodafone New Zealand apologizes for prank gone bad

Remember news yesterday concerning a stolen shipment of Sony Ericsson PlayStation phones? Well, it seems that the whole shebang has been just a prank – a bad one at that as most people would perceive. Vodafone did mention last night over its official Twitter site concerning the theft, with the intention of delaying the launch in that part of the world because of it. Vodafone New Zealand tweeted, “[We] regret to advise the Xperia Play launch will be delayed”, touting that a major security breach had happened, with the entire shipment of phones disappearing.

Vodafone New Zealand spokesman Matthew East did a 180-degree turn this morning by informing The Australian that the company had actually made up the claim on Twitter simply for marketing purposes. How will you react to such news? Do you find sacrificing a bit of perceived goodwill in return for publicity worth it?