Summer's here, and the time is right for sales promotions and publicity stunts

Did somebody say "free?"

I was hangin' at the 7-Eleven today, which is what all teachers do during the summer when they're not writing their blogs.

As I stood in a long line, a HOT 103 cruiser pulled up in front of the store. A nondescript station rep, lucky enough to be working on a Sunday, got out of the car and set up a table.

When he gave the signal, a clerk announced: "The HOT 103 guy is giving out free Slurpee coupons!"

A guy standing in line shouted, "Holy fuck!" and bolted from the store, almost crushing a granny at the very promise of being the first to get a free Slurpee coupon.

He was followed out in rapid succession by everyone else in the store, but for a young guy who was unfortunate enough to have just bought a Slurpee. "You've gotta be shitting me," he said twice, as though his life had been ruined.

I would rather pay for a Slurpee than wait in a long line for free ones, so that's what I did, as I pondered this classic summer sales promotion: creating pandemonium by giving away something that costs about 99 cents.

I just hope the guy from HOT 103 survived the onslaught of thirsty, not to mention thrifty, Winnipeggers.

Michael Moore starts collecting for CEOs

Meanwhile, Michael Moore has launched a very unusual, interactive trailer to his new film in which he doesn't even mention the film's name.

Instead, Moore himself appears and suggests that everyone in the theatre chip in to "Save our CEOs." Cue ushers, who entered the theatres (New York, LA, Chicago, and DC) with collection jars and "Save our CEOs" T-shirts. Apparently, some audience members actually ponied up the cash, God bless 'em.

According to /Film:

"Perhaps the lucky cinema patrons had some inkling that something odd was going to go down tonight when, as they walked in to take their seats, they had to pass by signs telling them that they were liable to be filmed and informing them that entering the auditorium would be, in effect, giving consent for their images to be recorded and used."

A new teaser trailer is expected as early as next week, which means we've officially entered the "drip, drip, drip" stage of the publicity campaign, which should continue until the new film opens on Oct. 2.

The trailer: