'Dumbest PR stunt' as promotional goldfish die

A promotional body is in hot water over the death of goldfish intended to entice business to South Australia.

Advantage SA sent 55 goldfish as part of an invitation to media buyers, urging them to come to Adelaide and "test the water and be the big fish in a small pond".

Advantage SA said some of the fish later died.

But Advantage SA chief Karen Raffen insists they all arrived alive and healthy, with six months' worth of food, after being hand delivered.

She said they would find good homes for any unwanted fish.

"It was certainly not our intention to either harm or cause any distress to the fish or those receiving the invitation," she said in a statement on Tuesday.

PR guru Chris Rann said he was surprised Advantage SA did not seek more advice before embarking on such an "utterly foolish exercise".

"This is about the dumbest PR stunt that I have seen in many a year," he said on Tuesday.

Renowned media buyer Harold Mitchell, who did not get a goldfish, criticised the campaign.

"It's hard to see how a promotion like that would work, there's every chance of it going wrong and quite obviously it has."