Top 23 Worst Marketing Fails of Each Year (2000 - 2022)
2000: Nike's Horror Ad
The athletic apparel brand had a rough start to the new millennium thanks to one of their commercials getting bad reviews. It came out alongside two others starring athletes demonstrating game-changing physicality, accompanied by the slogan, “Why sport?” The contested ad featured professional runner Suzy Favor Hamilton in a fictional situation reminiscent of classic horror films. Being chased by a masked man wielding a chainsaw, the olympic athlete is shown easily outrunning her threatening pursuer. It was received poorly for a couple of reasons. First, some critics claimed it promoted misogynistic violence. Second, parents were upset when it ran on television during the Olympics, while kids were likely watching. The commercial was eventually taken off the air.
2001: Royal Mail Logo Change
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The British postal service spent roughly £2 million on a brand makeover in 2001, changing everything – including its name. Unfortunately, people weren’t fans. The new name, Consignia, was meant to show that the company wasn’t just a postal service, but it came off as obscure and unexplanatory. And the new blue logo, full of colorful curves, looked nothing like the bold red rectangle people had come to associate with the Post Office Group. The change was so unpopular, the Communication Workers Union wound up boycotting it. The reworked look and name didn’t last long, and in 2002 the company returned to something more familiar.
2002: Acclaim’s Speeding Ticket Coverage
The now bankrupt video game publisher pulled a few stunts in the name of marketing during its time, but this one takes the cake. For the promotion of “Burnout 2: Point of Impact,” the company practically incentivised people to engage in unsafe driving. Acclaim offered to refund any speeding tickets issued in the UK on the racing game’s release day, a move that was condemned by the British government. A spokesperson for the Department of Transport said the promotion “obviously encourage[d] people to break the law and do something dangerous.” Thankfully, the company eventually rescinded the offer.
2003: Red Lobster's Crab Legs
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In 2003, the restaurant chain ran an all-you-can-eat promotion, selling endless crab for $22.99. While the campaign was meant to boost the company’s earnings, they ended up losing roughly $3.3 million in three months, plus $405.9 million in stock. Apparently, then-president Edna Morris had counted on patrons enjoying a second serving of shellfish, but not a third or fourth. She and the company parted ways soon after. Considering Morris’ previous experience heading Quincy’s Family Steakhouse, reports surmised that she didn’t think about crab being less hearty than red meat. The rising cost of snow crab at the time didn’t help matters, either.
2004: Coke Releases Dasani in the UK
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The launch of Coca-Cola’s bottled water line in the UK started off rough when they used the work “spunk” in their branding. While the word implies pluckiness in the company’s home country, America, to the Brits, it’s slang for a certain sort of bodily fluid. People also criticized the product for being merely filtered tap water from Sidcup. Yet that ended up not even being the worst part of the whole ordeal. It soon came to light that there was something funky in the bottled water after all. Tests showed that the liquid contained alarming and illegal levels of a potentially cancer-causing agent called bromate. Dasani hasn’t been reintegrated into the British market since.
2005: Snapple’s Failed Attempt at Breaking a Guinness World Record
What better way to advertise a product than by beating a Guinness World record? Too bad Snapple’s attempt at besting one ended up in a puddle. The drink brand tried to erect the “World’s Largest Popsicle” in Union Square. But the 25 feet long Snapsicle simply couldn’t take the heat. A significant amount of it melted, resulting in gallons of liquid popsicle messily gushing out of the freezer truck and onto the New York City streets. Although part of the frozen treat still remained intact, it was no longer stable enough to stand up. What was left was taken away.
2006: “All I Want for Christmas Is a PSP”
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If there was one word to describe this advertising stunt, it's ‘cringe.’ In an effort to market PSPs to children, Sony hired a company called Zipatoni to create a fake amateur blog. It was made to look like it was run by two tween boys, Charlie and Jeremy, but it radiated Steve Buscemi on “30 Rock” energy. A music video posted on the site was especially embarrassing. It shows an adult man rapping about his desire for a PSP and his plan to ask his parents for one. Consumers tend to not like stealth marketing, especially when it targets youth. Plus, the blog was just plain bad.
2007: Lifelock CEO Shares Social Security Number
You would think the co-founder and CEO of an identity theft protection company would be careful with his own social security number. However, Todd Davis was anything but when he used his as part of an advertising scheme. Davis shared the numerical sequence in commercials, on billboards, and even plastered on the side of a truck. Predictably, things didn’t end well. Although the campaign succeeded in getting everyone’s attention, it backfired when people began using Davis’s social security number. It was reported that by 2008, Davis’s identity had been stolen 13 times. Besides being dumb, the campaign was also costly. Since the service failed to do what its advertising claimed, the Federal Trade Commission issued the company a $12 million dollar fine in 2010.
2008: Snickers’ “Get Some Nuts” Ad
A series of commercials for the chocolate bar from 2008 leans into a pun regarding one of the candy’s main ingredients. For the marketing campaign, the brand decided to reference another connotation for the word nuts, relating to a person’s private parts. The commercials feature Mr. T, an actor known for his toughness, accosting men who are acting in a way he deems as ‘unmanly’. One advertisement in particular drew criticism for being homophobic. It shows a man who could be coded as gay being attacked by the B. A. Baracus actor while speed walking. It ends with Mr. T delivering a punny tagline to the audience. Upon receiving backlash, the Mars company pulled the short video from the air.
2009: Illegal Weapon From EA
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One of the perks of being a game journalist is getting PR packages from video game companies. It's a win for both parties; the players get free stuff and the brand gets free advertising. It’s too bad the gifts sent out by EA to promote “The Godfather II” video game were banned in many states. While brass knuckles are certainly on theme for the action-adventure video game, the sentiment was that EA had no business distributing dangerous weapons. They resolved the matter by requesting recipients send the gifts back. This whole fiasco seems like it could’ve easily been avoided, but alas.
2010: Spirit Airlines Jokes About Oil on Beaches
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The budget airline has a reputation for being problematic, so folks weren’t that surprised when one of their marketing campaigns demonstrated poor taste. The company released a series of photos depicting women sunbathing on beaches, accompanied by the slogan “Check out the Oil on our Beaches.” What’s the kicker? The ads were revealed in the middle of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill crisis. Today, the incident is considered one of history’s largest environmental disasters. The fact that Spirit cracked a joke while it was still ongoing was widely seen as heartless. The company defended its ad, though, insisting that they weren’t referencing the disaster through the use of tanning oil.
2011: Groupon Super Bowl Ad
The discount e-commerce marketplace missed the mark with a series of commercials that aired during the 2011 Super Bowl. One in particular appears to trivialize the unrest in Tibet that lasted throughout the second half of the 20th century and into the 2010s. It shows actor Timothy Hutton addressing how Tibetan culture is being threatened before cheerfully discussing Tibetan cuisine. It was accompanied by two other ads which make light of animal endangerment and deforestation, respectively. While the company claimed these were all parodies, that wasn’t made clear to the audience. Instead, the dramatic switches in tone and topic makes all three seem insincere.
2012: Susan Boyle's Hashtag Party
Tagging a word or phrase using the hash symbol has become standard on the internet. On Twitter, hashtags are a handy tool for individual users, brands, and activist groups alike. While helpful for promotional purposes, they can also backfire; that’s what happened in 2012 when Susan Boyle’s team started one that was poorly written. It was supposed to promote Boyle’s album party, celebrating her new release. While it gained a lot of attention, it probably wasn’t for a reason that the singer wanted. Without any spaces or capitalized letters, the phrase had multiple interpretations, not all of which are safe for children. The unfortunate combination of words had people thinking not about the artist’s vocal ability but rather her rear end.
2013: Hyundai's Car Safety Ad
The South Korean car company met backlash when they tried demonstrating the ix35’s clean features in an advertisement released in 2013. The car model boasts of 100% water emissions thanks to its hydrogen fuel cell. With concerns about climate on the rise, a vehicle that runs on hydrogen should have been easy to market. However, the company seemingly felt the need to go for shock value with a commercial produced by its in-house agency. It depicts a man trying and failing to take his own life by carbon monoxide poisoning. The advert did not go over well for obvious reasons.
2014: NYPD's Photo Campaign
In yet another incident surrounding failed hashtags, the NYPD opened themselves up to be embarrassed when they started one on Twitter. The department’s official account called on people to share photos with city police officers using the #myNYPD tag. While they expected friendly images of citizens and officers standing side-by-side, what they got were pictures and videos showing officers in, shall we say, not the best light. Considering police brutality was and continues to be a concern among American citizens, it’s not surprising that the NYPD hashtag got this kind of engagement.
2015: Bud Light's “Up for Whatever” Slogan
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Bud Light’s questionable campaign got them in trouble a couple of times during 2015. It started in March when the beverage’s official Twitter account made a post referencing an icky St. Patrick’s Day tradition. The tweet encouraged people to pinch those who “aren’t #UpForWhatever.” They met backlash again in April once they started placing taglines on their drinks’ labels. One of the slogans read, “the perfect beer for removing ‘no’ from your vocabulary for the night.” Considering the dangers of irresponsible alcohol consumption and the importance of consent, the company should’ve been encouraging responsible behavior. Instead, they did this. At least they didn’t reference a racist hate group in their marketing, unlike a Krispy Kreme promotion in the UK from the same year.
2016: Qiaobi Washing Detergent Commercial
It’s not difficult to see why this Chinese commercial drew criticism from viewers, as it leans into racist stereotypes regarding cleanliness. The short video depicts a Black man in dirty clothing being shoved into a washing machine before emerging, now suddenly Asian. Despite its problematic premise, the advertisement reportedly ran for some time in China before going viral among English-speaking Internet users. As Qiaobi started to receive backlash from viewers in the West, they defended their commercial before later backtracking and expressing regret over the ordeal. Interestingly, the clip draws upon an Italian laundry detergent commercial from 2008. The original’s premise is slightly different, but still super problematic.
2017: “Live for Now” Pepsi Commercial
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This misguided advertisement for Pepsi featuring Kendall Jenner only lasted a day before it was pulled by the company. Structured as a short film with “Lions” by Skip Marley playing in the background, it’s a shallow attempt at engaging with the Black Lives Matter movement and police brutality. It shows the model and a few token people of color joining a protest march with no clear cause. A standoff with the police comes to a resolution when Jenner gives one of them a Pepsi can. The other demonstrators celebrate the interaction like it's the end of racism. People were quick to point out how tone-deaf – to the point of almost being humorous – the ad is. “Saturday Night Live” even made it a sketch.
2018: Heineken's "Sometimes, Lighter is Better" Ad
We’re not sure how a commercial like this made it to air in 2018. The ad starts with a bartender noticing a fair-skinned woman across the way who’s unhappy with her drink. He takes it upon himself to slide a light beer over to her. Along the way, it passes three Black people before stopping next to the slogan, “Sometimes, lighter is better.” Yikes – many were quick to wonder how nobody on the creative team flagged the racist implications here. The combined casting, editing, and tagline is not a good look. After facing backlash, the company axed the commercial along with the rest in its series.
2019: North Face Wikipedia "Hack"
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The online self-proclaimed encyclopedia provides free information on a wide variety of topics. While teachers might not consider it scholarly, Wikipedia pages are usually one of, if not the first, results in a web search. But back in 2019, the outdoor goods manufacturer North Face decided to take advantage of the nonprofit’s popularity and public editing system. Instead of paying for advertising, they uploaded photos of their own products to the Wikipedia pages for multiple geographical landmarks. They even made a video about the endeavor. The Wikimedia Foundation condemned the company’s actions. The North Face ended up issuing an apology.
2020: Burger King’s Moldy Burger
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In an effort to demonstrate the use of less artificial preservatives in their food, the fast food joint made a commercial that spoiled our appetite. It shows a timelapse of their Whopper hamburger over 34 days, growing progressively moldier and moldier. The high quality video and close up shot of the sandwich shows the decomposition in all its disgusting glory. We guess it’s nice to know that Burger King is using more natural ingredients, but rotten meat simply isn’t appetizing. Needless to say, we’ll never look at a Whopper the same way again.
2021: American Airlines’ Rainbow Capitalism
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June 2021 (aka Pride Month) was the summer of major corporations using LGBTQIA+ supportive branding to make money. Despite the seemingly inclusive marketing, many companies were criticized for being hypocritical and performative. American Airlines was one of the biggest offenders. Although they switched their Twitter profile picture and heading to include rainbow imagery, the company has been known to fund anti-LGBTQIA+ politicians. In 2020, they donated over $46 000 to senator Mitch McConnell’s campaign. The trend of corporations changing their branding during Pride month while doing nothing or actually harming the community on a regular basis has been dubbed “rainbow capitalism.”
2022: Balenciaga Teddy Bears
The Kering-owned fashion label is known for making risky choices. However, they crossed a major line in 2022 with two beyond inappropriate series of promotional photos. Some of the images show children modeling with bears that are wearing leather harnesses, an unsettling combination. Others, from a different campaign, include props that deal with disturbing subject matter. Internet sleuths notably spotted a written version of the Supreme Court’s opinion in United States v. Williams among papers sprawled on a desk. They also pointed out a book featuring Michaël Borremans, an artist responsible for producing troubling images of youth. After a few days of silence, Balenciaga brand ambassador Kim Kardashian issued a statement on Twitter, saying she was “disgusted and outraged.”
