Electronic Arts hired 20 people for the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles to stand outside the trade show and protest their new video game Dante’s Inferno.”

EA spokeswoman Holly Rockwood says the stunt was arranged by a viral marketing agency hired by EA. However, the “protest” was still covered by local newspapers and The LA Times.

The new game, Dante’s Inferno is loosely based on Dante Aligheri‘s poem “Divine Comedy,” The fake protesters were “upset” about the game because it glorified eternal damnation. The protesters passed out pamphlets and held up picket signs saying “Hell is not a Video Game” and “Trade in Your PlayStation for a PrayStation.”

Some critics have been saying this might not have been the best move for EA. Why would you build negative buzz about your own product?

We think it was a perfect thing for EA. As people were walking into the trade show, they already had interest in the game. Not only that, they received free publicity in local newspapers, which then made it’s way onto the internet. And now that the coverage is on the internet, their clelver stunt will reach much farther than a trade show in LA.

You could also applaud EA for creating fake negative buzz themselves so nobody else can. Now that it’s already been done, no one would take real protesters seriously. Way to dodge that bullet, EA!

Bad news for Domino’s. Look at what happens when you hire teenage boys who know about Youtube! Yep, they make stupid videos. It’s a risk that every fast-food company takes when they hire adolescents. Too bad that this video really screwed with Domino’s brand.

If you haven’t heard, two employees of Domino’s – now former employees – made a Youtube where they did inappropriate and disgusting things to the food before boxing it up. The video ended up getting crazy popular and had more than a million views within 24 hours. The video has since been taken off Youtube by Domino’s.

Had the video been positive, that amount of buzz in such a short amount of time would have been amazing for Domino’s. But alas, it was really bad.

The Youtube video and the buzz it created on other social networks had the capacity to kill the brand. But Domino’s acted quickl enough to prevent any further damage to the company.

Patrick Doyle, CEO of Domino’s Pizza USA, created his own Youtube video to respond to the concerns created by the previous video. His video showed sincerity and concern for Domino’s customers and assured everyone that everything is being done to prevent that kind of behavior from being repeated. The store where the video was shot has actually been shut down and undergoing intense cleaning. There is also an investigation to see if this kind of behavior is taking place in other stores.

Domino’s reacted well to a bad situation and have taken the first step to regaining customer trust. However, in true Buzz.io fashion, we must point out that this situation didn’t need to be nearly as damaging to their brand. If they had already set up social network accounts, especially Twitter, they would have known about the video almost instantly and would have been able to take the video down before more than a million people saw it.

Pizza Hut, knowing that they hire people of the same caliber as Domino’s, have already created a new position in their company – the “twintern”. The twintern’s purpose is to be the voice of Pizza Hut on social networks. Luckily they are learning from Domino’s mistakes.

To Domino’s credit, they have set up a Twitter account since the incident. Too bad they didn’t think of that last week.