Buzz
Marketing plays a crucial role in any business, as public perception can be just as important as the product's quality. While there are many marketing masterminds out there, and if Mad Men has shown us anything, it’s that they often receive lavish rewards like glamorous women and unlimited scotch. However, occasionally a marketing campaign or publicity stunt can end in a complete disaster…
10. Abercrombie & Fitch Ends Up in Hot Water
Abercrombie & Fitch dug itself into a hole by mocking their target audience after taking aim at a Jersey Shore celebrity.
If you’ve ever strolled by an Abercrombie & Fitch store, you could probably guess who their typical customers are. Fraternity guys, party girls – essentially, the MTV generation. But this wasn’t the demographic Abercrombie wanted, so they made a bold move by asking Jersey Shore star “The Situation” to stop wearing their clothes.
The brand believed that offending one of the biggest icons among their core audience was a smart marketing move. It wasn’t. The result? A PR catastrophe. Abercrombie’s stock plummeted by 15% following this PR blunder, demonstrating that it's never wise to bite the hand that feeds you.
9. Philip Morris Claims Smoking Deaths Benefit the Economy
Phillip Morris Tobacco controversially suggested that smoking is beneficial for a nation because it helps eliminate the sick population.
We all know that smoking is harmful, but tobacco giant Philip Morris seemed to think that death by cigarettes might actually be a good thing. In 2000, the company conducted a study in the Czech Republic about the costs associated with smoking-related deaths. Their conclusion? These deaths were actually beneficial to the economy.
They argued that early death, along with revenue from cigarette taxes, was more economically advantageous for the country than the healthcare costs to treat sick smokers. This view did not sit well with anti-smoking organizations—or, frankly, anyone not employed by Philip Morris.
8. Susan Boyle’s Disastrous Hashtag Moment
Be cautious about what you tweet when using your work computer – you could end up tweeting on behalf of your boss.
KitchenAid quickly took down the tweet in question and issued an apology. However, the damage had already been done.
6. Blackberry’s RIM Job Blunder
Looking for a job? How about a Rimjob? Research in Motion might have a position just for you.
It was a simple mistake, as the company’s initials are RIM. But it seems they were either incredibly careless, oddly humorous, or just genuinely naive.
5. American Apparel Profits from Hurricane Sandy
Step 1: Exploit a Tragedy. Step 2: Lose customers and money.
Hurricane Sandy devastated the northeastern United States: lives were lost, homes destroyed, and countless people were left without power. Surely no company would attempt to profit from such a catastrophe, right?
Wrong. American Apparel did just that. The clothing brand saw this as the perfect moment to run a sale. They didn’t even try to mask their greedy intentions and used the hashtag #sandysale. Then, they sent an email to customers saying, 'In case you’re bored during the storm.'
4. Kenneth Cole Misses the Mark on Trending Topics
Kenneth Cole himself tweets a snide remark about the people involved in the Cairo Riots.
Kenneth Cole, the fashion brand, thought it would be a great idea to promote its new collection during the riots and protests in Egypt. And it wasn’t some low-level employee who made the blunder—Kenneth Cole himself tweeted it. He sarcastically remarked that the people in 'uproar in #Cairo' must have been rioting because 'they heard our new spring collection is available online.'
What’s even worse is that shortly after, someone at the Kenneth Cole store in San Francisco posted the tweet on a glass case for all to see. Well, Kenneth – at least one person found your joke amusing.
3. Cartoon Network’s Unintentional Terror Alert
A promotional stunt, mistaken for a bomb scare, caused emergency services to panic.
On January 31, 2007, a massive bomb scare hit Boston when mysterious LED placards appeared across the city. Authorities took the threat seriously, and it made national headlines as the Boston Police and Fire Departments scrambled to figure out what was going on. In the end, it turned out to be a promotional campaign for a cartoon targeting stoners.
The LED placards were designed to resemble characters from the show 'Aqua Teen Hunger Force', which was preparing to hit the big screen. It's easy to understand why the police mistook them for bombs: they featured exposed wiring and electrical tape. Of course, the only clue that they were harmless were the strange animated characters on each one.
Boston police were ridiculed after this fiasco, making it one of the few cases where both the pranksters and those responding to it ended up with a public relations nightmare.
2. Department of Defense’s Major Forgetting Moment
The Department of Defense made a huge blunder by flying a plane dangerously close to Ground Zero for a photo opportunity.
In 2009, New Yorkers witnessed a frightening sight when a large plane flew low over the airspace near Ground Zero. People immediately feared another September 11-style attack. Even Mayor Michael Bloomberg thought they were under threat. It wasn’t until later that someone informed him and the rest of the city that it was simply a Department of Defense photo op.
The plane was Air Force One – though the President wasn’t aboard. The Department of Defense claimed they had notified the authorities about the flyover. However, it seems they failed to clear it with the proper people. Even President Barack Obama was 'furious' when he learned about the stunt.
1. Celeb Boutique Misses the News
What does Kim Kardashian have in common with a mass shooting? Absolutely nothing – yet the folks at UK shop Celeb Boutique somehow thought otherwise.
