All drones aside, publicity stunts are supposed to generate publicity not serious questions about national security.
Yet Tom Madden’s transporting a nine-foot Israeli missile so conspicuously in an open convertible Thursday raised lots of eyebrows, but no alarms or reports to authorities.
“When a police car pulled alongside, I’m thinking this is it. I’ll have to explain this is not a loaded missile, but a historic souvenir from the Six-Day War and we’re doing this for charity. After eyeballing my missile, however, astonishingly he pulls away and turns east.
“Then I thought I’d see what happens if I pulled up to a McDonalds drive-in with the missile beside me, but when the girl flings the window open and sees the missile, all she asks is what size Coke I want.”
Madden, founder of Boca Raton-based TransMedia Group (www.transmediagroup.com) is a PR guy who’ll go to any lengths to get attention for his clients. “I’m glad I pulled this stunt for charity, not so much for the relatively light publicity it generated, but how vividly it shows we’re so blase about reporting suspicious things.”
During the mile uneventful 25-mile trip from Dania Beach to here, the missile raised thousands of eyebrows of passing motorists, but not a single report to authorities despite the President of the United States being only 23 miles away in Miami to where Madden’s missile was pointed as he drove north along US1.
Madden believes he might have “crossed the line” with the President so close by, but he’s glad this experience might have brought to light how reluctant Americans are to report people and things extremely and maybe dangerously out of the ordinary.
The missile is a valuable collectible from the Six-Day War returned to Israel by Jordan’s King Husseinthat Madden was transporting to his Boca office to be stored until the firm decides what charity will benefit from auctioning it off.
Known as “The Spin Man,” the title of his memoir, the not so shy and retiring Madden said he was sorry if the disarmed, harmless missile scared anyone. “But I’m glad this is Boca and not Baltimore or Cleveland, or I might not have made it back in one piece packing a missile.”