Wrightsville Beach town officials will decide this week what legal options it can take in response to a helicopter stunt that dropped flyers over students during an organized beach party, University of North Carolina Wilmington’s Beach Blast on Aug. 16. Meanwhile, the founder of the tech startup company that dropped the flyers publically apologized after an online backlash over littering and the potential danger to students, and also organized a beach cleanup.
Wrightsville Beach Town Manager Tim Owens said officials were in discussion with both the town attorney and the district attorney to see what legal options they can take against either Oak Island’s High Tide Helicopters or Likeli, the startup company that staged the promotion. Owens said a decision on what citations it can issue either company was likely to come by Friday, Aug. 27.
Likeli hired the helicopter operator to fly over the annual Beach Blast party while an employee dropped $1,000 in $1 bills, each stamped and attached to a flyer, most of which ended up in the ocean as students scrambled to retrieve the money.
Owens said the town was also investigating whether it could enforce its town ordinance requiring all aircraft maintain 500 feet of altitude, or whether similar Federal Aviation Administration rules would take precedent. He said the town’s likely only option would be to issue a littering citation.
George Taylor III, founder and chief executive officer of startup app Likeli, apologized Thursday for the stunt, in both a public Facebook post and in media interviews, and said the company would organize a beach sweep to begin atonement for the mistake.
“It was poorly executed, it wasn’t well thought through, and we own it,” Taylor said. “I’m not going to say it was a good idea. I’ve lived in Wilmington my whole life; the last thing I want to do is trash the ocean.”
Taylor said the stunt failed in many ways because the drop was intended for land. In addition to dropping flyers into the ocean, the $1 bills were stamped with water-based ink, likely washing off the message before many got to read it. The water also removed the adhesion between the flyer and dollar bill, with many students not even seeing the flyer. The stickers were rendered useless in the water.
Taylor said there were company “ambassadors” on the beach ready to clean up any leftover flyers, but town officials asked them to leave after the drop. Many of the flyers were unreachable underneath the water.
The event sparked an outcry on social media, as beach advocates in the area reposted news and videos of the incident onto social media accounts. Taylor said the old adage that there’s no such thing as bad publicity may not be true here.
“I hate to be the one responsible here,” Taylor said. “But it is refreshing to see that there is immediate accountability from the community when you do what’s wrong.”
Taylor said since Likeli’s services targeted the student community, the company wanted to make an impression on UNCW students, but sponsorship of Beach Blast proved too expensive, so they devised the new plan in 48 hours. Taylor said more thought should have gone into the stunt.
Owens said that incident marred what is a successful yearly event.
“I’m not saying we would stop the event, but if people continue with these kinds of shenanigans, we could have some issues,” Owens said.
To make amends, Taylor said the company hosted a beach sweep at Stone Street on Sunday, Aug. 21 at 9 a.m.
“I’m hoping we can make right with what we’ve done,” Taylor said. “I don’t intend for that to be the end of this and we’re looking into doing events at Masonboro Island and Carolina Beach, too.”
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