Advertising is a quite complex process that requires intellectual effort. Sometimes we are amazed at how creatively it can be approached… and sometimes we are astonished at how a product or service could be promoted in such a cringy way. In this article, we will analyze the examples of bad advertising by companies and explore their common features.
Before we proceed, you might want to bookmark our complete guide on advertising formats, since our two topics are connected.
- What Is Bad Advertising?
- Examples of Bad Advertising on TV and Media
- Procter & Gamble and gender roles
- Reebok’s “Cheat on Your Girlfriend”
- McDonald’s — Addressing the Problem Without Solving It
- Dove’s Racist Mishap
- Bud Light #upforwhatever
- Axe — a New Level of Vulgarity
- Examples of Bad Advertising in Movies
- Offline examples
- Is Bad Advertising Still Advertising?
- Consequences of Unsuccessful Advertising Campaigns for Well-Known Brands: 6 Examples
- Amazon’s “The Man in the High Castle”
- JCPenney and a Strange Looking Teapot
- Nike — When Things Just Go Wrong
- Nike and Colin Kaepernick
- Coca-Cola, a head louse, and a wax horse
- Coca-Cola and Colors
- Conclusion
What Is Bad Advertising?
Bad advertising is the kind of advertising that doesn’t work. Instead of increasing sales, it either reduces them or, if lucky, keeps them at the same level.
Interestingly, there have been numerous cases when even large international corporations with huge advertising budgets have found themselves in unpleasant situations. Why this happens often remains a mystery because one would expect real professionals to work in their advertising departments. Perhaps, it’s just a matter of unjustified risk.
In other cases, it occurs because advertising specialists launch ad campaigns without conducting any market research. As a result, the company’s stocks plummet, and the target audience starts to neglect the brand due to poorly chosen narratives, wrong execution, unclear context, mismatched visual elements, offensive content, and so on. People wish to unsee the unfortunate ad.
Examples of Bad Advertising on TV and Media
Now, let’s take a look at some notable examples of unsuccessful advertising that can be found in various unexpected places, created by players from whom you least expect it, and for which CEOs occasionally have to apologize.
We can find them everywhere — on TV, newspapers, radio, social networks, websites, and Telegram channels. There is no place where some brand hasn’t launched a shitty ad campaign.
Procter & Gamble and gender roles
In 2011, Procter & Gamble ran an advertisement in print dedicated to Mother’s Day. It seemed like a great occasion and message, except for a few “buts”, such as the text “Get back to the job that really matters” and an image of a mother, along with her daughter cleaning a window with Mr. Clean.
Users didn’t appreciate the message and questioned what job truly mattered here. Teaching a child to clean windows and know their place? The idea that a woman’s job is to clean and wash things predictably made people mad.
Advertising is a huge field, and affiliate marketing is a part of it. But is affiliate marketing legit? It is, and if you read this article, you’ll learn why.
Reebok’s “Cheat on Your Girlfriend”
In 2012, Reebok launched an advertising campaign in Germany with the slogan “Cheat on your girlfriend, not on your workout”, for which they faced backlash. The company had to apologize for the very existence of such an advertisement.
You decide whether it is acceptable or not.
McDonald’s — Addressing the Problem Without Solving It
In 2020, amidst the pandemic, McDonald’s, placed advertisements on social media and their website urging people to follow safety guidelines. They modified their logo design, separating the letter “M” into two arches to symbolize the importance of social distancing.
Twitter users immediately stirred up a storm and accused the company of trying to profit from the situation instead of providing real help. As a result, McDonald’s removed all references to the advertisement and focused on promoting their delivery service, which became a real solution to the issue of social distancing.
Dove’s Racist Mishap
In 2017, Dove posted a commercial on their Facebook page featuring a dark-skinned woman removing her top and transforming into a white woman.
The main idea of the advertisement was to demonstrate the effects of their body lotion. However, the intended message was misunderstood by the target audience, and the company was immediately accused of racism. Representatives of the brand issued an apology statement, but it received over 3000 comments, with many calling for a boycott of their products to demonstrate the power of “black money.”
Bud Light #upforwhatever
Bud Light beer is one of the most popular brands worldwide. But that didn’t stop the company from making a blunder with their advertising. In a TV commercial, a random young man is offered to do something, and he agrees because he’s #upforwhatever after drinking Bud Light. The story ends with him playing table tennis with Arnold Schwarzenegger at a OneRepublic concert. Well, that’s what everyone does after having a drink, right?
The TV commercial doesn’t contain any profanity, nudity, or violence. So, what went wrong? It all comes down to the overall message of the campaign and the text on the bottle: “The perfect beer for removing ‘no’ from your vocabulary for the night”. Considering the role of alcohol in sexual assaults, DUIs, and much more, it was not the best slogan they could have come up with. As a result, the company apologized and pulled the commercial from TV rotation.
Axe — a New Level of Vulgarity
“And only your thoughts will remain dirty” is perhaps one of the first slogans that comes to mind when hearing the name of this brand. The excessive promotion of gender stereotypes, high level of sexualization of men and women, and shifting blame for sexual harassment onto the victim often cause confusion and disapproval. This leads to criticism of the brand, bans on advertising, and calls for boycotts.
Examples of Bad Advertising in Movies
Advertising for cars, technology, food, and beverages has become commonplace in films, and it no longer surprises anyone. The mere appearance of a product in a scene is unlikely to offend anyone. What’s wrong with a girl wearing Balenciaga in a movie? In this section, we will discuss annoying trends related to advertising in movies in general:
- Inappropriate movie trailers before screenings. This is kinda problematic because the audience coming to watch a superhero movie might not be really interested in arthouse films, and vice versa.
- Trailers that position a film in one genre when it is actually in a completely different genre. Overall, false expectations from advertising are one of the most dreadful things in marketing.
- Hype surrounding upcoming premieres. When you eagerly anticipate something based on the advertising, the disappointment can be quite strong.
- Copying advertising campaigns. Many trailers and posters for different films are so similar to each other that if you remove the title, it would be impossible to distinguish them.
Offline examples
To get an idea of examples of bad advertisements offline, just take a walk through the center of any city where there are billboards and advertising boards. You will undoubtedly come across a product from some local service provider or merchant who thought, “Great, sales growth guaranteed, no need to invest in content creation.” This is common for both large and small cities.
Is Bad Advertising Still Advertising?
Sometimes bad advertisements are created intentionally because “bad news is good news.” People tend to remember something negative much better because it evokes a stronger emotional response. This result can be achieved in two ways:
- Releasing a low-quality product.
- Promoting it through bad advertising.
If the main goal of an advertising campaign is to make the brand more recognizable and memorable, then it is exactly what is needed.
In other cases, it is better to think about the consequences because some of them may only manifest over time.
| Consequences | Effect on Operations |
| Negative brand perception | People now pay more attention to a company’s “social mission” to evaluate how the brand conducts and embodies itself in everyday activities. Badly thought-out, provocative advertising can harm this positioning in the medium to long term. This, in turn, can have a negative impact on user attitudes. |
| Financial costs | This effect stems from the previous one. If fewer people show loyalty to the brand, the number of customers decreases. This means additional expenses for launching new advertising campaigns, conducting research, and restoring the brand’s image. Additionally, investors may express dissatisfaction and reduce funding for certain areas of operations. |
Consequences of Unsuccessful Advertising Campaigns for Well-Known Brands: 6 Examples
No one is immune to unsuccessful advertising, not even the largest corporations. We have gathered examples of failures from well-known brands.
Amazon’s “The Man in the High Castle”
Brands can go quite far in the advertising of their products. For example, Amazon, whose commercial activities span a wide range, launched a controversial advertisement for its series “The Man in the High Castle.” The plot imagines an alternative reality where Germany and Japan won World War II. In promotional materials, the Statue of Liberty was adorned with a swastika and gave a Nazi salute, while some subway cars were painted in a similar manner.
People did not appreciate this creative approach, which led to a swift discontinuation of the advertising campaign and low ratings for the series. However, Amazon can afford such mistakes.
Success of your promotion also depends on your pricing strategy, so don’t neglect this area where you can manipulate things.
JCPenney and a Strange Looking Teapot
One of the largest American retailers, JCPenney, also went too far in promoting Nazism. They displayed an advertisement featuring a teapot resembling Hitler. Take a look for yourself and decide whether the spout reminds you of a nazi salute, the lid resembles the dictator’s mustache, and the handle resembles his hairstyle.
Considering the fact that these billboards are often viewed from a distance, and the details are not always visible, such a result was possible. The company faced a barrage of complaints and quickly removed the advertisement. However, the teapots started selling very quickly, so this campaign cannot be considered a complete failure.
Nike — When Things Just Go Wrong
Nike’s advertising usually provides a motivational boost to make you want to become better and start pushing yourself right away. But even giants like Nike can have missteps at times.
In 2020, Australia was hit by devastating wildfires, and Nike released a new tennis apparel collection that encouraged players to “conquer the burning conditions.” Most likely, these two events were not related, as the marketing department had prepared the campaign in advance and simply failed to consider all the circumstances before its launch. Nevertheless, the sports goods manufacturer received its share of criticism.
Nike and Colin Kaepernick
Another Nike advertising campaign had more serious consequences for the brand. The company enlisted the participation of Colin Kaepernick, who had already been involved in a scandal and faced a wave of disapproval for his stance supporting black people who had suffered at the hands of the police.
As a result, many well-known personalities and politicians turned against Nike, with some even resorting to burning Nike products and sharing videos of it online. Consequently, the company’s stocks plummeted as a result of all these events.
Coca-Cola, a head louse, and a wax horse
Advertising mistakes due to ignorance of cultural peculiarities in any country happen constantly. It’s alright if it’s a small market that doesn’t heavily impact the company’s commercial activities. But in the world’s second-largest economy, one needs to be very careful, even if it hasn’t officially become one yet.
In 1928, the beverage manufacturer Coca-Cola entered the Chinese market, and since the brand was already recognizable worldwide, they decided not to change the name. But in Chinese, the name sounded similar to phrases like “bite the head louse” or “wax horse.”
The advertisers gracefully resolved this situation by slightly altering the sound — Kekoukele, which means “happiness in the mouth.”
Coca-Cola and Colors
Another mistake by this company was related to the color of the bottle for the “healthy” version of the drink. Coca-Cola Life was sold with a green label, which symbolized health. This immediately raised the question among consumers, “Does that mean the red color signifies death then?”
But giants like Coca-Cola can easily overcome such moments and not lose a significant amount of money because the strength of their brand is immense.
Conclusion
To avoid ending up in compilations of bad advertising, pay attention to multiple factors, starting from market research for the planned product promotion and ending with studying the preferences of the target audience, who can quickly spread the word about a stupid ad to everybody.
If you have an advertisement that is on the verge of breaking the rules but you’re sure it will come off, you can conduct A/B testing which we have previously covered.
