Home Gaming Call of Duty PR reps steal R336 550

Call of Duty PR reps steal R336 550

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ohnoyoudidntSo how big are the marketing and PR budgets for the big blockbusters? Well to put it in perspective the head of PR for the Call of Duty series in the UK, Kathryn Kirton, syphoned over R300 000 out of the PR budget and didn’t expect it to be noticed… she was wrong.

According to a court trial that has just finished, Ms Kirton used her position in the company to splurge PR money on clothing, hotels and a hen party amongst other things.

The spending spree included an incredible R132 538 on clothing from one upmarket boutique, an invoice she passed of as

clothing for a specialist magazine shoot for Modern Warfare 2

Now I’ve played modern warfare 2 and I don’t remember a part of the game where clothing from a store like this

Reiss

Another PR consultant, Jamie Kaye, then charged Activision R49 000 for a holiday, that he took with this family in Florida.

The majority of the fraud was quite well done with Jamie using his company credit card to purchase the goods then submitting the invoices to Kathryn to approve as she was his superior.

In the end however they were found guilty of one count of fraud each and given a suspended sentence. So a mere slap on the wrist. Granted their careers are now in tatters but it does feel a little lenient to me.

The reason for the suspended sentences were twofold, with Kathryn recently having a child and her marriage in tatters the judge didn’t want to heap more pain on the child. And secondly the judge appeared to believe that Kathryn and Jamie were simply overly tempted by the world of PR

Judge John Hillen spared them both jail and said the case reflected the temptations on offer in the world of PR.

I’m tempted by what’s on offer in that bank vault or at that really nice Sony store but that doesn’t give me the right to take it. When I worked for the bank I was tempted to transfer millions to my account and yet I doubt the judge would have looked on that leniently.

To me it looks like the PR people have once again managed a bad situation and gotten off virtually scot free. Oh to be born with a silken tongue.

As a side note, Geoff actually met Kathryn at a previous launch and only came home with a golden Rolex… if only he’d known.

Last Updated: April 24, 2013

27 Comments

  1. Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew

    April 24, 2013 at 10:42

    Well, it’s mind boggling how they both got off scot-free. But I gues kudos to the judge for trying to spare the child such a horid thing. But then again, perhaps the child would be better off with honest, hard working foster parents who would teach a kid that stealing money from Activision will not go down well.

    Reply

  2. eXpZA

    April 24, 2013 at 10:48

    Reminds me of that South African minister that spent a few thousand rand at a McDonalds.

    source: http://www.businessart.co.za/news_read.php?news_id=922

    Reply

  3. Rincethis: Spellalicious

    April 24, 2013 at 10:48

    This saddens me, and also reinforces my conviction that PR people are the devil in disguise.

    Reply

    • matthurstrsa

      April 24, 2013 at 13:11

      PR stands for Person Robot right?

      Reply

  4. Rincethis: Spellalicious

    April 24, 2013 at 10:53

    I Love how Mygaming has their header for their take on this as ‘Two Activision PR personnel jailed’, apparently their editorial staff don’t know the difference between SUSPENDED SENTENCE and the verb JAILED… Le SIGH!

    Reply

  5. umar bastra

    April 24, 2013 at 10:54

    “Overly tempted by the world of PR “…..

    Shame I think We should let our politicians off the hook, they steal our money because they are too tempted by the world of politics.
    Seems like a legit enough excuse

    Reply

  6. HvR

    April 24, 2013 at 11:29

    These should given Nobel prices and humanitarian awards, taking away money from the CoD propaganda machine is a good thing.

    Reply

  7. Purple_Dragon

    April 24, 2013 at 12:20

    Really bugs me how people who steal money get away with light sentences. Steal a loaf of bread and it’s off to prison you go, but steal millions of dollars, no problem, no jail sentence.

    The people who caused the recent subprime crash got away with millions of dollars in bonuses and no jail time, meanwhile thousands of people lost their homes and their tax money bailed out these guys.

    Reply

  8. matthurstrsa

    April 24, 2013 at 13:12

    Wow, courts are lame these days. Tar and feather I say!

    Reply

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