LG promoted the event - called G in the Cloud - by saying it would feature 100 helium balloons that each contained a voucher for a free G2 Smartphone handset worth around £550.
But to the shock of event organisers, individuals brought weapons such as BB guns and knives taped to sticks hoping to burst one of the balloons that formed the letter G. This resulted in 20 people injured, none of which were seriously hurt.
A statement released by LG Electronics said: "LG Electronics deeply regrets that a number of Korean participants were injured during an outdoor promotional event in Seoul, Korea.
"LG takes full responsibility for the unfortunate situation and has offered to cover all related medical expenses. LG is investigating the incident to ensure that such an occurrence can be avoided in the future."
In response to the incident last week, event professionals spoke to Event about the paramount importance of safety during promotional events.
Zaine Venter, senior account director at iD Experiential, said: "I can’t imagine that in the UK we would ever have got the LG activity to the point of going live as there would always be far too many variables and areas of risk.
"As an experiential agency we always adhere to UK health and safety guidelines to ensure the wellbeing of consumers as well as our staff and the brand image. You can’t trade the safety of one for another as clients and their agencies may realise the consequences of not following protocol can be damning.
"Any creative idea we have for a client campaign has to pass several reviews before it goes into production or live, this is so ensure the integrity of the campaign and safety of those involved."
However, Jonathan Emmins, founder of Amplify, said what happened in South Korea should not put people off coming up with ambitious ideas.
He said: "As stunts and co-creating with consumers becomes the norm, so is the temptation for brands to be more extreme in what they do to secure mass social and PR reach. However, this shouldn’t be at the expense of getting the basics right.
"While we should all learn lessons from the LG incident, it doesn't mean brands can't think big. Red Bull 'Stratos' was a clearly very ambitious project that took years of careful planning, but that planning paid off."
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