You might well ask why, as indeed I am, but a Welshman is attempting to paint a Fiat 500 pink, live online, using tiny pots of nail varnish to try and get a Guinness World Record, as well, of course, as gaining some publicity for Fiat's new, limited edition, rose-tinted motor.

If you are interested in such shenanigans then you can follow the progress of the publicity stunt live online via a webcam at the PinkMyRide site or can stay up-to-date with happenings (which I can't imagine will be that scintillating) via Twitter by following @500Pink, where 55 people are currently doing just that.

I could be wrong and this could be the next huge trending topic on Twitter, but in my opinion this is not how to use Twitter to engage your potential audience - it's a pointless stunt that just happens to use the micro-blogging service as a means of communicating, rather than consider the wider benefits Twitter can offer a brand or a promotion.

What's worse is that to try and appeal to a female audience (as indeed the car's colour might suggest is the target market) Fiat has created a history for the record breaker, trying to make the 28-year-old more attractive to women, who they presumably hope will then tune into the live stream to watch the bloke carrying out his pointless task whilst in corporate captivity.

From the press release: "The wannabe record breaker, who is recently single, said: 'I broke up with my girlfriend and thought this would be a great way to get through it [Er, really? Why?]. I hope to nail the job in seven days but I’ve never done anything like this before".

To up the stakes on that side of things, a recent tweet (referring to a concurrently running comp offering "15 minutes of fame helping the hunk pink the Fiat 500") from afore-mentioned hunk reads like some awful lonely hearts come-on: "If you want to come and join me paint - go to pinkmyride.tv and enter the competition - come on its lonely in here".

Recommended articles