# What Companies, Besides Domino's, Have Admitted on TV: "We Stink"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 8, 2010, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-besides-dominos-have-admitted-on-tv-we-stink/524203 "2010-01-08T20:45:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ivn1188](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e480ec/32.png) [@ivn1188](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivn1188)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-besides-dominos-have-admitted-on-tv-we-stink/524203/41 "2010-01-09T08:01:09Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > Hardees? did the same thing in a big way a few years ago IIRC. They went so far as to (roughly) say they would be going from some of the crappiest hamburgers around to about the best you could get. > > I vividly remember thinking multiple times that I should give em a try and see how good the burgers had become. Hardee’s is kind of a special example. Hardee’s hamburgers were never that great, but the new push toward giant burgers and such at Hardee’s was a way to change demographics. The Hardee’s of yore was all about the roast beef sandwiches. The franchise was going into decline due in large part to poor marketing and failure to adapt to the market – they had weird hours, and ISTR some sort of affiliation with christian groups or something. Anyway, their new market power wasn’t so much a confession that their products were bad, but more a reboot of the Hardee’s franchise. I am also a little bit sad that they got away from the roast beef; the only alternative right now is Arby’s, which has been losing market share because of it’s higher prices and trying to make up for it with more trendy products, but not succeeding. ---
**Author:** ![GameHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-besides-dominos-have-admitted-on-tv-we-stink/524203/42 "2010-01-09T08:06:58Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > McDonald’s recently upgraded their coffee, which was pretty much an admission that their old coffee was subpar. I’m a total coffee snob Nonetheless, I will grant McDonald’s this - their coffee went from being “total shit tar” to being “a very workmanlike but cheap and honest” brew. I still don’t love it, but I no longer hate it. I don’t think any honest person could deny that, no matter what they though of it before, the beast has improved. ---
**Author:** ![Noel\_Prosequi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b19c9b/32.png) [@Noel\_Prosequi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noel_Prosequi)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-besides-dominos-have-admitted-on-tv-we-stink/524203/43 "2010-01-09T08:22:17Z")
Two examples. Volvo ran a series of ads here a few years ago in which they started off with a slogan like “Why would you drive a Volvo?” or something similar, in which they poked fun at their reputation for being a car for timid middle aged people. They deliberately ran the ads as a series so that they took a hit when the ads first ran so that they could build up over time a new image (so they hoped) of cars that were young and sexy. Didn’t really work, but they did bag themselves a bit. The idea was that the slogan was carefully chosen so that it started out at the beginning of the campaign to mean “What person in their right mind would be interested in a Volvo?” and ended up meaning “Wow! Volvos are cool! Who _wouldn’t_ want one!” More directly on point - Mother is one of those Red Bull clones owned by Coke. They reformulated the taste after disastrous sales, then ran a series of ads in which ninjas break into their research centre and comically toss out all the sciency-type people responsible for the taste of the first version of Mother, saying fairly clearly that they have taken on board the customers’ message that the old formulation tasted crap. ---
**Author:** ![GameHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-besides-dominos-have-admitted-on-tv-we-stink/524203/44 "2010-01-09T08:22:52Z")
> [@GameHat](#): > > I’m a total coffee snob > > Nonetheless, I will grant McDonald’s this - their coffee went from being “total shit tar” to being “a very workmanlike but cheap and honest” brew. > > I still don’t love it, but I no longer hate it. I don’t think any honest person could deny that, no matter what they though of it before, the beast has improved. //cheap and honest referring to the flavor and US price per cup, not how McDonald’s actually obtains its beans ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-besides-dominos-have-admitted-on-tv-we-stink/524203/45 "2010-01-09T08:36:23Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > Or when they closed 75% of their Australian stores, admitted no-one here seemed to want their coffee, and more or less pulled out of the country? Considering how packed every city there was with cafes and coffee shops when I visited in 99, I am surprised they found any place with the space available for them to even open stores. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-besides-dominos-have-admitted-on-tv-we-stink/524203/46 "2010-01-09T15:05:44Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > In all seriousness, I am blown away that Dominos has a presence in San Fransisco at all, with all the truly great pizza options at your beck and call. > > **I suppose some like the uniform nature of a huge chain, rather than trying the various local independant joints. (that attitude is alien to me, but I guess it’s common enough in certain circles)** I’ll go a little off topic and address this. Most of the “great local” foods/restaurants friends of mine have raved about when I visited them, well, I’d say 5 times out of 10 it wasn’t any better than chain store food. It’s nice that areas have their locals and sundry adherents boosting for them; I tend towards local places myself over chains. But it can be hit-or-miss quality wise. BOT: I laways thought Domino’s was okay, if bland. Their “new style” has definitely been punched up some. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-besides-dominos-have-admitted-on-tv-we-stink/524203/47 "2010-01-09T15:29:00Z")
I think the Democratic National Party pretty much admitted and had to face this at every turn to finally turn things around. Now it’s the RNC’s turn. Since they show only faint signs of doing it, the biggest “Hey, we used to suck, but now we’re better” party is gonna be in power for a while. ---
**Author:** ![JWT\_Kottekoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@JWT\_Kottekoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JWT_Kottekoe)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-besides-dominos-have-admitted-on-tv-we-stink/524203/48 "2010-01-09T17:03:32Z")
A few years back when Microsoft introduced a new version of Office, they made fun of “Clipppy,” that annoying paper clip thing. A major selling point of the upgrade was banishing Clippy to the netherworld. ---
**Author:** ![yelimS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/54ee81/32.png) [@yelimS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yelimS)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-besides-dominos-have-admitted-on-tv-we-stink/524203/49 "2010-01-09T17:27:09Z")
There’s a hotel in Amsterdam that takes great pride in being horrible, but I can’t remember the name (And also a zero-star hotel in a bunker in Germany). Also, I can’t seem to find this Domino’s commercial anywhere, can anyone provide a link? ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-besides-dominos-have-admitted-on-tv-we-stink/524203/50 "2010-01-09T17:41:35Z")
Years ago the Harley Davidson motorcycle company was bailed out. Did they ever run any sorta “thanks, sorry, we will get better and make everyone happy” kinda ads? ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-besides-dominos-have-admitted-on-tv-we-stink/524203/51 "2010-01-09T19:21:01Z")
> [@scifisam2009](#): > > Gerald Ratner, cheif exec of a big jewellery chain,[admitted that his products were ‘total crap.’](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Ratner) It wasn’t on TV originally but I do remember TV interviews where he repeated the admission while denying it at the same time. Just for the record, and Wiki does cover it, Ratner’s infamous quote had nothing to do with advertising (at least not at first). He was giving a speech at a function and made a joke about how his chain of jewellery shops could be so profitable - he held up an example of the sort of thing his stores sold and said it was “crap”. He either wasn’t aware that cameras were rolling, or had forgotten, or thought the remark would be ignored. BTW, this was before the era of cameraphones everywhere capturing just about anything of note. Well, it _was_ caught on video, the press caught hold of it, and the fuss very nearly capsized his company. He tried running a massive and sizeable damage limitation ad campaign, in which celebs assured the punters that the goods were actually good quality, but this has precisely zero effect. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-besides-dominos-have-admitted-on-tv-we-stink/524203/52 "2010-01-09T19:32:24Z")
For those that haven’t seen the Colbert episode on this, funny stuff: [http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/cleanplatecharlie/2010/01/stephen\_colbert\_topples\_dominos\_new\_ad\_campaign.php](http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/cleanplatecharlie/2010/01/stephen_colbert_topples_dominos_new_ad_campaign.php) ---
**Author:** ![typhoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ed8c4c/32.png) [@typhoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typhoon)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-besides-dominos-have-admitted-on-tv-we-stink/524203/53 "2010-01-09T20:08:47Z")
After Volkswagen acquired Škoda Auto, according to [Wookieepedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%A0koda_Auto#Volkswagen_Group_subsidiary): > [@](#): > > The perception of Škoda in Western Europe has changed completely.[4] As technical development progressed and attractive new models were brought to market, Škoda’s image was initially slow to improve. In the UK, a major turnabout was achieved with the ironic “It is a Škoda, honest” campaign, which was started in the early 2000s. In a 2003 advertisement on British television, a new employee on the production line is fitting Škoda badges on the car bonnets. When some attractive looking cars come along he stands back, not fitting the badge, since they look so good they cannot be Škodas.[5] This market campaign worked by confronting Škoda’s image problem head-on — a tactic which marketing professionals regard as high risk. Before the advertising campaign, it was common to hear tour guides in Bratislava making jokes about the Škoda, saying “How do you double the value of a Škoda? Fill up the gas tank!”[citation needed] If the Fabia and Octavia had been anything less than excellent cars, the campaign might have backfired badly. By 2005, Škoda was selling over 30,000 cars a year in the UK, a market share of over 1%. For the first time in its UK history, a waiting list developed for deliveries by Škoda. Škoda owners in the UK have consistently ranked the brand at or near the top of the J.D. Power customer satisfaction survey during the 2000s. ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-besides-dominos-have-admitted-on-tv-we-stink/524203/54 "2010-01-09T21:14:37Z")
> [@GameHat](#): > > Nonetheless, I will grant McDonald’s this - their coffee went from being “total shit tar” to being “a very workmanlike but cheap and honest” brew. > > I still don’t love it, but I no longer hate it. I don’t think any honest person could deny that, no matter what they though of it before, the beast has improved. Definitely agree. I’m not a coffee snob in any way whatsoever–my favorite basic brew is the one they serve at IHOP–but I could never understand how anyone could stand the … whatever it was they used to serve at McD’s. (Sorry, I can’t bring myself to call it ‘coffee’.) Their current brew is definitely drinkable, and I sometimes even order it. Another fast food example is the change to the Burger King french fry recipe about 8-10 years ago. Their old fries were just barely edible when they were absolutely fresh out of the fryer. Which, BK being a fast food restaurant, they virtually never were. The new fries are actually really good (again, for fast-food french fries). Although I was pretty creeped out by the ad campaign featuring Mr. Potato Head pushing people to try the new recipe. Reminded me of the ‘Dish of the Day’ in Douglas Adams’ _The Restaurant at the End of the Universe_. Eewww. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-besides-dominos-have-admitted-on-tv-we-stink/524203/55 "2010-01-10T03:26:54Z")
> [@SCSimmons](#): > > Another fast food example is the change to the Burger King french fry recipe about 8-10 years ago. Their old fries were just barely edible when they were absolutely fresh out of the fryer. Which, BK being a fast food restaurant, they virtually never were. The new fries are actually really good (again, for fast-food french fries). Nooo! The old fries were superior! The current fries are artificial-like, in the same way that their onion rings are artificial-like. ---
**Author:** ![xnylder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/bbce88/32.png) [@xnylder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xnylder)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-besides-dominos-have-admitted-on-tv-we-stink/524203/56 "2010-01-10T05:18:40Z")
I remember KFC running radio spots a few years ago that fit this description. The spots featured an interviewer asking a customer what he thought about the chicken (“great!”), the gravy (“I love it!”) and the fries (“ummm…”). The announcer then went on to admit that KFC’s old fries were lacking but that they’d been improved. IMHO the fries still suck, but the ad was memorable. ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-besides-dominos-have-admitted-on-tv-we-stink/524203/57 "2010-01-10T08:22:33Z")
Somewhat in the same vein as what the OP was requesting, perhaps companies apologizing in ads for making bad business decisions, if not bad products… …about a year ago, the “schoolteacher” touted as creating Airborne was in a series of TV ads apologizing for the misleading marketing of the product, IIRC blaming the management team that had been handling Airborne, and claiming that the company was under new management, and implored customers to give them another chance. Similarly, during the Atkins diet craze, Atkins food products began to experience shortages; they aired a few commercials apologizing for their poor performance, detailing the steps they were taking to increase production and make sure such shortages wouldn’t occur again. ---
**Author:** ![ivn1188](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e480ec/32.png) [@ivn1188](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivn1188)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-besides-dominos-have-admitted-on-tv-we-stink/524203/58 "2010-01-10T08:43:22Z")
> [@Student\_Driver](#): > > Similarly, during the Atkins diet craze, Atkins food products began to experience shortages; they aired a few commercials apologizing for their poor performance, detailing the steps they were taking to increase production and make sure such shortages wouldn’t occur again. Heh. That’s sort of different,given that “we’re selling out too fast, so sorry” is an extremely powerful compliance technique. When paired with an apology that they aren’t able to supply the full demand, but they are working on it (which is another compliance technique – making a statement against one’s own interests builds consumer trust), that’s a double whammy of marketing acumen. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-besides-dominos-have-admitted-on-tv-we-stink/524203/59 "2010-01-10T08:45:42Z")
Coca-Cola released an energy drink on the market here called “Mother”, which basically tasted like cold tea with lawn clippings from a herb garden in it. It wasn’t very nice and very few people liked it. So they completely changed the formula and relaunched the product, and featured an ad campaign in which the people responsible for the old Mother (stereotypical lab-coated scientists) were raided by commandos and thoroughly beaten up (in a humorous way). That is, I think, a textbook example of what the OP is after… Also, the reformulated Mother is actually quite nice, even if it does come in a 500ml can (more energy drink than I typically need) ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-besides-dominos-have-admitted-on-tv-we-stink/524203/60 "2010-01-10T09:08:40Z")
> [@ianzin](#): > > Just for the record, and Wiki does cover it, Ratner’s infamous quote had nothing to do with advertising (at least not at first). He was giving a speech at a function and made a joke about how his chain of jewellery shops could be so profitable - he held up an example of the sort of thing his stores sold and said it was “crap”. He either wasn’t aware that cameras were rolling, or had forgotten, or thought the remark would be ignored. BTW, this was before the era of cameraphones everywhere capturing just about anything of note. > > Well, it _was_ caught on video, the press caught hold of it, and the fuss very nearly capsized his company. He tried running a massive and sizeable damage limitation ad campaign, in which celebs assured the punters that the goods were actually good quality, but this has precisely zero effect. Yep. I know it wasn’t completely pertinent to the thread, but it was similar in that the CEO admitted his product was crap. > [@typhoon](#): > > After Volkswagen acquired Škoda Auto, according to [Wookieepedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%A0koda_Auto#Volkswagen_Group_subsidiary): The slogan for a short time was ‘it’s Skoda, but good.’ Like the pretend slogan for Volvos in Couch Trip - ‘boxy, but good.’ I guess the long-running ‘love it or hate it’ Marmite ads are in a similar vein. They’ll often have two ads side-by-side or not far from each other, with one person loving the product and another hating it. The temporary Marmite shop in central London even encourages people to say whether they love or hate Marmite via love it or hate it stickers (and writing on the walls, table and chairs). Hell, the Dr Pepper commercials seem to be taking the same approach - at least the ones we get in the UK. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-besides-dominos-have-admitted-on-tv-we-stink/524203.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-companies-besides-dominos-have-admitted-on-tv-we-stink/524203.md?page=4)