We all know women loves clothes, shoes and handbags, me included. According to a report on the Dailymail however, one PR executive took it a step further. Kathryn Kirton, 35 was head of PR at Activision when she decided to take around £18,000 to pay for her engagement party, hen party and designer clothes shopping sprees.
She was in charge of the budget for a premiere style launch of the game when she siphoned off thousands of pounds for her own enjoyment. The report shows she spent £9,437 at clothes store Reiss on one of three shopping trips, as well as spending £2,000 on a luxury hotel break with her fiancé Lee Kirton.
PR Consultant Jamie Kaye helped her make the purchases using his company credit card and then decided to help himself to a £3,500 holiday in Florida.
The Mail say “Blackfriars Crown Court heard that Kirton, of Wandsworth, south London, had been in charge of the budget for the major ‘film premiere’ style launch of Call Of Duty: Black Ops but got carried away by the ‘glamorous and luxurious' world of public relations.”
Kaye was found guilty of taking £5,000 and Kirton admitted to stealing £18,963 from Activision. The judge John Hillen spared them both from jail and said the temptations were too high for both. He said “You were in a position of considerable responsibility.‘You bought a large quantity of designer clothing. You spent time in luxury accommodation and you funded your engagement party through dishonest means.
There was repeat dishonesty over a period of months. There is no doubt your wickedness deserves a severe sentence.
‘In the world of PR you are surrounded by luxury items. That is reality for people working in that industry.”
You can read more on the story over here.
Kitguru says: Would the money she took have helped make Call Of Duty a better game? Probably not.
So this is why Activision couldn’t afford a new game engine all of this time.