Zynga Pulls off an Illegal Marketing Stunt in San Francisco

Zynga is the creator of the Facebook applications/games Farmville and Mafia Wars -- there are more, however, those are the most well known -- their games are both loved and hated. The games are loved by those that play them, however, the are hated by those that don't play them and those who have all the annoying wall posts about the player's petty achievements and the gift requests etc.

These games have millions of players worldwide, but Zynga is interested in getting even more for their latest product. Mafia Wars: Las Vegas. Their marketing stunt consisted of gluing fake $25,000 bills to the sidewalks in San Francisco. The bills direct people to a new Mafia Wars website.

The San Francisco Cite Attorney's office is now going after the company for these stunts that it calls "illegal and actionable."

Now, what I don't understand is why Zynga did not just talk to the city officials and pay the city some money to get it approved. This would give the city some extra money for improvements and it would enable Zynga to go on with their campaign unpunished.

Earlier, the social-gaming company pulled off a much more grandiose marketing stunt in Nevada. This stunt consisted of exploding a truck with the help of the rapper, Snoop Dogg.

They seemed to get away with that one, so I don't think that it will be that much trouble for the company to get out of any long term punishments on the whole San Francisco deal.