In the battle between high-tech marketing and Mother Nature, Mother Nature won a round Wednesday afternoon.

Utah's Megaplex Theatres set up a fun promotional event to hype this Friday's release of "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" - by setting up a giveaway, the location of which would be hinted at in clues via Facebook and Twitter.

At the first of two locations - outside Spring Mobile Ballpark - only about 20 people showed up, huddling under a canopy to receive freebies from Michael Reagan (of KSL radio's "The Movie Show") and an actor and actress (pictured) portraying pirates. (The second location was the Hale Centre Theatre in West Valley City.)

My advice to the Megaplex folks: Don't give up. On a sunnier day, a promotion like this could be a big hit.