The writer of this article is definitely a hornet.

The skit that "missed the mark"

It’s absolutely amazing to me that they didn’t realize this was gonna cause a backlash.

Likely it cost more to have said meeting than the ps5 itself

I can almost guarantee that one of them wanted the PS5 for themselves, and insisted on swapping it out so they could take the console.

No, Michael Scott is a moron, not a jackass. He wouldn't pull this shit. He's tone deaf, he constantly thinks he's doing the right thing without realizing why what he's doing has the opposite of the intended effect even when it's obvious to everyone else. Giving a kid something he wants and then taking it away when no one's look is a move of calculated evil.

He'd imply heavily a PS5 then give the kid a Jersey, at no point would he actually have the thing in the kid's hand and then take it back.

Maybe that's just me, but I don't see Michael Scott as a character that would knowingly choose to do something immoral. He'd do a bad deed, but without realizing it.

Mike Scott's more the "We're taking away free tampons on the women's room, because we just don't have the money for luxury goods." type, who's then baffled when he's called sexist because he legitimately believed tampons were a luxury. Not the "Promote a woman? Are you insane? This is a man's office sweetheart!" type.

I could totally see Dwight taking the PS5 for himself and mocking the kid over it though. Even then he'd do it out of Chaos, not Evil.

And they have so damn much money that giving him the PS5 would have been like you or me flicking a penny to the kid.

People suck sometimes, I swear.

$500 for good press or $0 for bad. Looks like Charlotte is as bad at math as they are at basketball.

Compared to the marketing expenses of even very small companies, a PS5 is so ridiculously cheap that these costs are not even worth mentioning.

The team has revenue in the millions. They'd never have noticed the money. This should be in the dictionary under Penny Wise, Pound Foolish.

If a PS5 is too expensive to give away, then don't pretend to give one away.

I feel like I shouldn't have to say this.

IANAL Warning

Indeed, there was a story a while back where a bar had a contest for their staff; Whoever could sell the most drinks would receive a new Toyota.

Well one woman who really needed a new car busted her ass for that, and was taking to a parking lot where she was given a stuffed toy of Yoda from Star Wars; a "Toy Yoda"

She was told it was a joke and there was never any realistic chance of some local pub giving away new cars to minimum wage staff.

Well she sued over this joke, and actually won because during the contest she specifically asked what kind of Toyota it was and was told by her supervisor; the one who started the contest in the first place. That it very specifically was a real car that would be paid for in full and put in her name at no cost to her. Which invalidated any claim to this being a gag or a hoax.

You can imply that the prize is whatever you want it to be, and give whatever you want the prize to be. But the second you specify what the prize is in no unsubtle terms, you have to give it.

It's why I can say in a public ad that if you show up to my house wearing a Ballerina Outfit and a Cowboy Hat, and then knock on the door in the rhythm of the BGM "Bloody Tears", I will give you 100 Grand. You have no case if I hand you a candy bar literally called 100 Grand.

But if I said "That's right, one hundred thousand dollars in cash!", that wouldn't fly and you can take me to court.

But If I stayed on message and only said 100 Grand, using THAT exact phrasing, especially if I make other misleading but accurate claims like it being "100 Grand, yeah that's something to really sink your teeth into" then what I'm doing is hillarious.

By putting the PS5 Box in the kid's hands and saying he won a Playstation, that ended any ambiguity, taking away the box and giving him a Jersey was an act of fraud.