To celebrate the launch of its flagship G2, LG held a pretty crazy promotional event in Seoul on Friday, which gave attendees the opportunity to win a voucher for a free handset by catching one of 100 helium-filled balloons that were released into the air.

But the event turned nasty when 20 people were injured, and LG was forced to cancel other events it had planned across South Korea.

“We canceled events offering free G2 smartphones that had been scheduled in major cities nationwide, including Busan, due to safety concerns,” the company said in a statement.

LG promised that it would give a free G2 to anyone who managed to obtain one of the coupons, which were stuffed inside the balloons themselves at the “G in the Cloud” event. But some attempted to shoot down the balloons using BB guns, injuring others attendees in the process.

“Some were using BB guns to shoot the balloons. As far as I know, there were only some 20 security guards,” one blogger wrote, according to a Korea Times report. “LG should have placed more security personnel as the event was already promoted via social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and leading local portals. Some of the injured were hospitalized.”

LG admitted it had difficulty trying to control the crowd, but it promises that it will compensate those who were injured and “provide them with proper medical treatment.”

LG unveiled the G2 at a press event in New York City last week, and it has clearly spent a lot of money on marketing the new device. It has already launched a series of promotional campaigns for it, and there are others planned for the future, Korea Times reports.

Hopefully those to come will be safer than the “G in the Cloud” event.

• SourceKorea Times
• ViaAndroid Beat