Lonely Man’s ‘Message In A Bottle’ Stunt Backfires In A Big Way

A man in Scotland named Craig Sullivan got in metaphorical hot water after he decided to dump more than 2,000 bottles in the literal water, and announced it on Twitter. The Telegraph reports that Sullivan’s tweet about his project to find love via bottle message to some other lonely stranger attracted the attention of naysayers and a lot of backlash:

Sullivan is a widower whose wife passed away from cancer. Those are very sad circumstances in which to find yourself alone, but also, this is a terrible idea. Sullivan told the Telegraph that he was inspired by the Police song “Message in a Bottle,” taking it very literally. 

Sullivan released a few hundred bottles before the Environmental Protection Agency caught up with him, but if you’re curious about the level of people’s rage over this, check out the Twitter responses:

On Facebook, Sullivan wrote, “There has been a rather unpleasant backlash to my intentions, which were always not to achieve this sort of reaction. It’s been quite saddening but it won’t affect my optimism or plans – to find someone new.”

I certainly hope Sullivan finds someone new, and he says himself that many women have responded from around the world since his horrible plan went viral. I guess there’s for every litterbug that there’s another litterbug out there.