In 1995, posters were put up all around Mumbai saying - What are Aamir Khan and Manisha Koirala doing at Hotel Centaur [Juhu] on 29th July 1995 People got curious whether this is some rumour or gossip. Eventually it turned out that Venus had organised the music launch of the film Akele Ham Akele Tum at the hotel on the said date.
Similarly when Sanjay Dutt was arrested in the 1993 TADA case, Subhash Ghai printed posters all over the city with Sanjay Dutt in prison clothes and chained with the title “Haan Main hun Khalnayak”. I would say this was a desperate attempt to seek cheap publicity for your film.
But the worst trick to publicise a film happened just this year. Suddenly on the internet the statistics and reports of missing children in Delhi started circulating. News circulated that there are gangs which are involved in kidnapping and human trafficking which led to the abduction of 800 children and girls in just one month. Naturally these news created panic among the people and created chaos. Later Delhi police claimed that the stats are over exaggerated and misleading and is not linked to an abduction racket or serial abduction. The source of these news was linked to the PR team of Mardaani 3, a film based on the topic of missing girls. Naturally the makers received a lot of criticism for their cheap tactics of rumour mongering to promote their film..