- [Narrator] Behind
every marketing campaign is a team of executives, fact-checkers, art directors and more. You think this would
result in well-planned, well-executed strategies
every single time. But of course, marketing
teams are only human and humans can be really, really dumb. As these examples prove, sometimes even the biggest dogs
in the game can have a swing and a great big, costly miss. (pleasant music) Number 10, Snapple's sticky situation. In June 2005, Snapple decided
the best way to gain attention for its new popsicle product, Kiwi Strawberry on Ice, was to go big. Snapple took on the previous Guinness Book of World Records
holder for largest popsicle, constructing a 17.5 ton popsicle. The tasty monolith was
constructed in New Jersey and hauled to New York on a freezer truck, kept at negative 15 degrees Fahrenheit. On arrival, the Popsicle was dangled over East 17th Street, Manhattan, by a crane. Somewhere in the process, however, the popsicle's core had melted. This meant that when the
crane lifted it into the air, the mushy, sticky innards
flooded the streets. Passers-by were reportedly
slipping in the puddles and the mixture was
growing increasingly sticky in the summer sun. Authorities were called
in for the cleanup, which snaffled later paid for. Leaving the whole ordeal as nothing short of a total disaster. Snap will never figured
out why the popsicle didn't keep it solid form. But it was likely a combination of incomplete initial
freezing, the hot sun and a marketing team with
more money than brains. Number 9, out with the Oldsmobile. In 1988, an American car brand
produced by General Motors, decided to take the Olds out
of its Oldsmobile namesake and prove that they were cool now. While brand rejuvenation
is often a wise move, it all hinges on smart
approaches to new markets. Unfortunately, adapting
the campaign slogan; it's not your father's Oldsmobile, wasn't the wisest choice. The accompanying adverts featured a typical 80's synthesizer heavy jingle, as well as artsy shots of the youth. Attempting desperately and clumsily to appeal to the new generation. It failed miserably, as the car itself had barely changed at all. Meaning the kids weren't interested. Meanwhile, the loyal
customers who had enjoyed the Oldsmobile in the past were alienated, fearing that the car they'd loved had now been changed in some way. In the following decade or so,
Oldsmobile became obsolete. Great job Oldsmobile! It's not often you alienate
both potential markets in one fell swoop. Number 8, frequent flyers. In the 1980's, airlines were
hit hard by new regulations, stiff competition and the changing face of the airline business. In an attempt to gain
attention and thus, profit, American Airlines announced
the unlimited A Airpass. Which for the mere sum of $250,000, would entitle the bearer to free flights for the rest of their life. 28 people took advantage of this deal before American realized
that rising operation costs and over enthusiastic usage of the passes meant that the one-off fee of
$250,000 wasn't profitable. As a matter of fact, it soon started losing them money. Two individuals contributed to this loss more than anyone else, Jacques
Vroom and Steve Rothstein. The two held passes until July 2008, when American calculated
that their flights totalling millions of miles each year, were costing the company a
million dollars each annually. Rothstein was even noted
to have taken regular trips across the Atlantic, simply
for a bite to eat with friends. Soon American airlines
began stripping customers of their unlimited passes in airports, very publicly, resulting
in costly legal proceedings as well as a permanently
tarnished reputation. Today's A Airpass allows on-demand travel for a discounted rate, but
endless free trips to Chicago just for a slice of pizza are
unfortunately, off the cards. Hoover Vacuum's British arm
made a similar mistake in 1992, when they launched a promotion offering two free return flights to Europe with a purchase of more than 100 Pounds. Profit was expected to
come from the various small-print loopholes
and profitable extras travel agents were encouraged to push. When the first promotion would well, Hoover began offering flights
to New York or Florida in the same scheme. This man for the purchase of
a rather inexpensive Hoover, customers could obtain
flights worth over 600 Pounds. The promotion became much
more popular than anticipated and Hoover were only able to deliver on a fraction of the tickets. After covering up 50 million
Pounds for the free flights, while only generating 30 million in sales, Hoover bled out another 7
million to quell the PR damages. Just like their famous products, Hoover's marketing team really sucked. Number 7, spot the difference. Ikea has franchises around the world, but some countries'
approaches to the flat-pack mega-stores are notably different. Ikea Saudi Arabia was
caught out in October 2012 for publishing catalogs, which
were identical to all others, except the women were completely removed. In general, advertising featuring women is rare in Saudi Arabia
due to cultural standards. And Starbucks even
replaced their mermaid logo with a crown in order to thrive there. But whether politically correct or not, Ikea a company formed in Sweden, one of the most progressive
countries in the world, was accused of putting business interests before women's rights. Or maybe women really just
don't exist in Saudi Arabia. Surely a catalog wouldn't lie, would it? Number 6, weapons of mass distribution. In much of America, as
well as all of Canada, brass knuckles are illegal. Instead, people are generally encouraged to punch each other the old-fashioned way. Electronic Arts must have
missed that memo in 2009, when a shipment of press
packs for their Godfather II video game came under fire
for its questionable content. That content of course, featured shiny sets of brass knuckles. When they realized they'd
actually committed a crime by sending these out, EA
quickly recalled the knuckles but now before causing a very public mess and some very outraged mothers. As if soccer moms needed
any more reasons to believe video games cause violence. Luckily for EA the blunder
didn't pack a punch in the form of any lawsuits. But EA had become the
godfather gaming PR disasters. Number 5, smooth with an explosive flavor. Scavenger hunts are good,
wholesome fun, right? Well it turns out that
when your clues are kept in abandoned briefcases in public places, the authorities tend to take
the hunt quite seriously. In 2014, Coors Light Canada
sponsored a scavenger hunt across Toronto called Search and Rescue. This fun-in-the-sun theme publicity stunt involved hiding 880 prize-filled
briefcases across the city. With clues and maps posted
on Twitter each day, the hunt went smoothly. That is until the prize briefcase
left at an intersection, caught the attention of the bomb squad. Due to its suspicious nature, the briefcase launched an investigation halting the evening commute
for hundreds of angry people. Coors Light Canada
issued a public apology, but many inconvenienced Canadians publicly renounced the brand. Determining to seek light refreshment elsewhere in the future. Number 4, mild refreshment, poor taste. In 1971, Coke rode the
free-love political waves by teaching the world to
sing in perfect harmony. ♪ I like to teach the world to sing ♪ ♪ Sing with me ♪ - [Narrator] Voice came together, drank Coke and called for a unified earth. In 2017, Pepsi tried to
rehash this principle. Marching 21 year old
model, Kendall Jenner, through the crowds of
protesters to symbolically solve all the modern world societal issues by offering police officers a Pepsi. Voices arose in anger,
immediately after the ad aired. Coming in the wake of Black Lives Matter, the #MeToo Movement and
calamitous social unrest, nearly everyone was offended that Pepsi alongside a pretty rich
Valley girl, famous for (chirping crickets) could hijack serious social
issues in such a tone-deaf way. Across the world, angry
people were left wondering if Pepsi could really be that oblivious or if they were making
people angry on purpose. Ears and inboxes full of outrage, Pepsi pulled the ad and
publicly apologized. Meanwhile, the social
movements the ad referenced continued, somehow not
resolved by Pepsi sales. Number 3, always too soon. In 2016, Texas company Miracle
Mattress learned the hard way that deeply offensive humor
is best left to the comics. Attempting to cash in
on a national tragedy, the store owners released an advert featuring towers of twin mattresses stacked in the background. The advert asks, what
better way to remember 9/11 than with a twin tower sale? This bold opener is
followed by two employees diving into the towers
while saying, never forget. Instead of boosting sales,
these antics put the company out of business almost immediately despite various public apologies. They really should have
slept on this dumb idea before jumping into bed with it. Number 2, Pepsi's points panic. In 1996, Pepsi came up with
a not terribly original but easy to follow loyalty scheme. Customers could earn points
by buying Pepsi products. Different products had codes
worth different point values. After amassing the points,
they could be redeemed for prizes like T-shirts,
sunglasses and other random items bearing the Pepsi logo. One commercial for Pepsi stuff, which aired during the super bowl in 1996, announced at 7 million
points could be cashed in for a full blown Harrier jet, complete with custom Pepsi stylings. Pepsi rather than carelessly
assumed that no one would actually want a Harrier jet, nor bother to collect that many points. But as you probably guessed,
a 21 year old business student called John Leonard decided to
take Pepsi up on their offer. Since bottles generally
earned a single point, he could have just bought
7 million and used those. But that would have cost at
least a couple million dollars and drinking all that Pepsi would be sure to turn you diabetic. He discovered that Pepsi
points could be purchased for 10 cents each and found this method to be a comparatively cheap
way of acquiring a fighter jet. Presumably, Leonard had
plans to sell the jet as it's worth a few million dollars. Though all out war with Coca-Cola may have been the end game. Leonard lined up a handful of investors and sent 15 Pepsi point
labels alongside a cheque for 700,000 dollars for the
Harrier jet to Pepsi HQ. Pepsi refused the offer
and execs were baffled that they needed to
explain the ad was a joke. Things escalated to a lawsuit, but fell in Pepsi's favor
with the court ruling that no objective person could
reasonably have concluded that the commercial actually offered consumers a Harrier jet. However, as a protective
measure, Pepsi changed the commercials so that the jet
required 700 million points. Before the biggest blunder is revealed, there are a couple of
face-palm worthy tales that deserve an honorable mention. Firstly, an outstanding case
of; what were they thinking? I'm talking of course,
about Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg's, virtual
reality tour of Puerto Rico following devastating hurricanes in 2017. The gimmick was intended
as a way to announce Facebook's 1.5 million relief effort and work with The Red Cross. But Zuck isn't exactly
known for being a PR guru. During the live stream, Mark's smiling, laughing virtual icon wandered
off to play with his dog and could be witnessed
high fiving his cohost. All while real people in the background struggled to survive the
flooding and devastation. It seems Mark's grip on reality is purely virtual these days. There's also this ad found
in a Berlin subway station. It grew popular and
controversial on the internet through its Photoshopped
English translation. This funeral home ad, allegedly
the work of avant garde German and team Jung von
Matt, jokingly suggest readers help about the business by
stepping onto the subway tracks. Despite its controversial nature, the Bergemann and Sohn funeral home received positive feedback from this ad which is why it's only
an honorable mention. Still, this one could easily
have been a train wreck. Number 1, the cost of gluttony. A sure fire way to fail spectacularly is to underestimate hungry Americans. In 2003, Red Lobster
made that very mistake. Then president of the chain, Edna Morris, assumed running and
all-you-can-eat promotion would be a terrific way to bring new life to the Red Lobster brand. However, of all the
inexpensive sea critters, she chose snow-crab legs as
the promotion's center point. Unfortunately in 2003, snow-crabs were in short
and expensive supply due to over-harvesting in previous years. But whether unaware of the high price of the usually cheap crab or spurred on by some kind of deep rooted
hatred of crustaceans, Edna stood firm on snow-crab. Edna had enjoyed success with
all-you-can-eat promotions in the Steakhouse chain
and assumed the formula could be transferred from turf to surf. For a mere 22,99, customers could gorge
themselves with crabby goodness. Unfortunately, Edna failed
to realize that steak was hugely more filling than crab. The average customer ate
two dozen legs per sitting, with many returning for a fourth helping. Way more than the anticipated
amount per customer. Not only that, but cracking crab legs to eat is time-consuming. Meaning customers were
hogging tables for hours. Hourly customer capacity suffered badly and news of the fiasco
resulted in a 12% drop in share prices for Red
Lobster's parent company, Darden, as well as skyrocketing
already high snow-crab prices. All in all the promotion was
a total, costly disaster. Edna, the scourge of
snow-crabs everywhere, was thrown into the deep
blue sea of unemployment while Red Lobster nearly avoided
sleeping with the fishes. So is your forehead sore from face-palming at some of these business blenders? Have you encountered even
worse marketing mishaps? Let me know in the comments
section down below. Thanks for watching! (pleasant music)
