The Manchester Evening News (MEN) and Brazen PR have had a falling out. It all started with a story on page seven of the weekly free paper, the Manchester Metro News, on 6 April.
The story by Caroline Jack reported that 'lovestruck Matt Moxham' had spent £700 arranging for 20 gallons of melted chocolate to be pumped into his chocaholic girlfriend’s bath at home.
The successful PR stunt was related to Stockport confectioners Cheshire Chocolates.
However, Dianne Bourne, the MEN’s diary editor, when checking the story for publication in the daily paper, recognised the couple as not, well, not being a couple.
She recognised Leah as a Brazen exec and was aware that Matt is, in fact, the partner of a Brazen director.
Bourne immediately alerted the night editor. An anonymous MEN source said: “Basically it appears they’ve lied to us and had a laugh at our expense.”
It is understood the agency and the MEN have clashed swords before in not dissimilar circumstances and Brazen might be facing an informal Scott Place veto of its releases in the future.
Cheshire Chocolates are not clients of Brazen but the agency does handle North West Fine Foods and it is understood that the agency approached the MEN a month ago with a proposal for an Easter chocolate competition.
Emma Beck, a Brazen director told How-Do: “This was a fantastic picture case study that was actually factually correct about two guys, but had been changed to feature a guy and his closest female friend from school. We are very sorry if we misled the paper and actually wrote to all involved to extend our apologies.”The following is the article reprinted from the Manchester Metro News 6/4/07.
STICKY SITUATION: Matt Moxham and girlfriend Leah Watson
LOVE-STRUCK Matt Moxham certainly made a splash with his chocaholic girlfriend this Easter.
He knew that 27-year-old Leah Watson would want more than a traditional Easter egg - and so organised around 20 gallons of melted chocolate to be pumped into her bath at home.
Matt spent £700 on the treat - created by Stockport confectioners Cheshire Chocolates - from around 40kg of chocolate and a few splashes of warm water. It was a dream come true for Leah, who wrote to Jim'll Fix It when she was six to ask if she could bathe in her favourite melted treat.
Matt, 25, said: "Leah has always been a massive lover of chocolate. She revealed to me that she even asked Jim to fix it for her to bathe in chocolate - but never made it on to the show. I decided to go for it and fulfil her dream. She loved it and couldn't stop drinking the bath water. It was well worth the effort to see her splashing around in chocolate heaven!"
Events manager Leah, who lives in the Northern Quarter, said: "I thought it was a brilliant idea. We spent two hours in the bath and it was really hot to keep the chocolate melted. The bathroom smelled gorgeous afterwards but it took ages for Matt to clean the bath."
Amanda Torkington, from Cheshire Chocolates, said: "This is definitely the most bizarre request we've ever had but Leah loved it. She's by far the biggest chocoholic we've come across, and we meet a few!"
Some of the liquid chocolate has been bottled for Leah to continue enjoying but she is still expecting more of the sweet stuff on Sunday.
She said: "I would hope that I'll still get an Easter egg from Matt - if he thinks he's just getting away with a bath of chocolate, he's got another thing coming!"
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