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Libel On The Global Stage: The Chessboard of International Forums
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Harrods Chairman, Mohamed Al Fayed, will tomorrow make an important announcement about the future plans for the world-famous department store. The announcement is featured on the new version of alfayed.com which launches tomorrow, Monday, April 1, 2002, at 00:0. It will include a first-come-first-served share option offer. The information may help those journalists who have speculated during the last few months as to the future direction of Harrods.
The release said for “further comment, please contact LOOF LIRPA at Harrods.”
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As was later pointed out, “LOOF LIRPA” is April Fool spelled
backward. Harrods’ lawyer said the Journal “had a sense of humor failure.”
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The Journal missed the gag and in its April 1 issue in the United
States published a story that Harrods planned a stock offering. WSJ.com., the paper’s Internet site, carried a story that Harrods would publicly list its shares. Once it learned that the press release was a sham, the Journal published a correction on April 2. Three days later it ran in its United States print edition and on wsj.com what it considered a tongue-in-cheek follow-up story. In its “Deals & Dealmakers: Bids & Offers” column and under the headline, “The Enron of Britain?” the story read:
If Harrods, the British luxury retailer, ever goes public, investors would be wise to question its every disclosure. Harrods made “news” at the beginning of the week, when the London department-store operator announced it was about to sell shares publicly. Some news organizations picked up the news item, including The Wall Street Journal in a news-briefs column, but it was all an April Fools’ joke. The gimmick was a promotion for the Web site of Mohamed Al Fayed, the company’s chairman. Clues that it was a joke included the fact that the contact person listed to get more information was Loof Lirpa---April Fool spelled backward. Not exactly Monty Python-level stuff. But Harrods was pleased with itself. “The reason we played our April Fools’ joke was to draw people’s attention” to the relaunched and redesigned Web site, says
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The release is printed in Dow Jones, LEXIS at 3.
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Solicitor Laurence Harris, quoted in Buurman.
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| | Authors: Spellman, Robert. |
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Harrods Chairman, Mohamed Al Fayed, will tomorrow make an
important announcement about the future plans for the world-famous
department store. The announcement is featured on the new version of
alfayed.com which launches tomorrow, Monday, April 1, 2002, at
00:0. It will include a first-come-first-served share option offer.
The information may help those journalists who have speculated
during the last few months as to the future direction of Harrods.
The release said for “further comment, please contact LOOF LIRPA at
Harrods.”
5
As was later pointed out, “LOOF LIRPA” is April Fool spelled
backward. Harrods’ lawyer said the Journal “had a sense of humor failure.”
6
The Journal missed the gag and in its April 1 issue in the United
States published a story that Harrods planned a stock offering. WSJ.com.,
the paper’s Internet site, carried a story that Harrods would publicly list its
shares. Once it learned that the press release was a sham, the Journal
published a correction on April 2. Three days later it ran in its United States
print edition and on wsj.com what it considered a tongue-in-cheek follow-up
story. In its “Deals & Dealmakers: Bids & Offers” column and under the
headline, “The Enron of Britain?” the story read:
If Harrods, the British luxury retailer, ever goes public, investors
would be wise to question its every disclosure.
Harrods made “news” at the beginning of the week, when the London
department-store operator announced it was about to sell shares
publicly. Some news organizations picked up the news item, including
The Wall Street Journal in a news-briefs column, but it was all an
April Fools’ joke. The gimmick was a promotion for the Web site of
Mohamed Al Fayed, the company’s chairman. Clues that it was a joke
included the fact that the contact person listed to get more information
was Loof Lirpa---April Fool spelled backward.
Not exactly Monty Python-level stuff. But Harrods was pleased with
itself. “The reason we played our April Fools’ joke was to draw
people’s attention” to the relaunched and redesigned Web site, says
5
The release is printed in Dow Jones, LEXIS at 3.
6
Solicitor Laurence Harris, quoted in Buurman.
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