One of the more interesting categories of PR disasters are the "What were they thinking?" variety. But some campaigns and stunts are so far from the mainstream that one has to wonder if criticism was the intended result.

Pepsi seemed to score a real PR head-scratcher with its "Amp Up Before You Score" iPhone application released on Oct. 9 which apparently intended to help young men, er, connect with women in several categories from "cougar" to "tree-hugger." The commercial purpose of the misguided app was to promote Pepsi’s new energy drink, Amp.

Folks buzzing about the app on Twitter offered support ("It's not bad taste or controversial. Get some humor"), went on the attack (“Pepsi keeps digging a sexist PR hole”), and a few (like your humble blogger) suspected the controversy was intentional.

The app is filled with innuendo and less-subtle language that would make most marketers cringe, but as of today it is still available, despite a fast apology over Twitter by PepsiCo that was tagged #pepsifail: "Our app tried 2 show the humorous lengths guys go 2 pick up women. We apologize if it's in bad taste & appreciate your feedback."

Pepsi could have noticed to critical buzz created by the "baby-shaker" iPhone app earlier this year and decided to leverage some offensive marketing (albeit on a less-objectionable scale than shaking infants) to generate chatter about its new energy drink.

As Kevin Dugan pointed out, Pepsi's app was competing with 76,000 others in the iTunes store: "AMP knew it needed to push the envelope to stand out. Perhaps they planned for controversy to fuel that promotion. Mission accomplished."

Even the Wall Street Journal seems suspicious in noting that PepsiCo "has invested heavily in social media and may relish the ruckus."

Update: A week later, Pepsi said it will pull the app.