# What was the dumbest/worst "Updating Old Brand for the 21st Century!" ad campaign you saw? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** commercials-ads\ **Created:** [July 27, 2022, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-dumbest-worst-updating-old-brand-for-the-21st-century-ad-campaign-you-saw/968633 "2022-07-27T07:01:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2022, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-dumbest-worst-updating-old-brand-for-the-21st-century-ad-campaign-you-saw/968633/1 "2022-07-27T07:01:40Z")
Not just within the last 22 years by the way, as the 90s also saw plenty of “We have to update this character from the 1920s to fit into the 1990s!” Basically any example of a company with an old mascot or brand identity that’s given a “fresh coat of paint” purely in an attempt to appeal to “younger generations” or “to better reflect current society.” This is almost always done just to get more brand recognition since on slow news days TV or Internet news will report it as a main story. The most recent example of this was when M&Ms revamped their characters to appeal to “Gen Z” which was mostly just having the female characters drop their high heels for regular flat shoes. For me personally, it’s when 4 years ago [the Red Baron Pizza Company introduced the Red Baroness](https://www.multivu.com/players/English/8104451-red-baron-pizza-baroness-wing-mom/) to appeal to “Working class moms who are the majority purchasers of the pizza” but mainly I feel the company was just really poorly trying to pivot away from the fact the entire company is based on an incredibly fictional representation of a real life German war criminal to sell pizzas. By making a typical mom the Red Baron you’re just further confusing everything. Does anybody actually care that the new mascot for Red Baron Pizza is a woman anyway? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2022, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-dumbest-worst-updating-old-brand-for-the-21st-century-ad-campaign-you-saw/968633/2 "2022-07-27T07:21:57Z")
Gotta go with Toucan Sam. > **[Kellogg's redesigns Fruit Loops mascot Toucan Sam – and people are NOT happy](https://www.creativebloq.com/news/fruit-loops-toucan-sam)** > > New mascot is more frightening than friendly. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2022, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-dumbest-worst-updating-old-brand-for-the-21st-century-ad-campaign-you-saw/968633/3 "2022-07-27T11:17:12Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > a real life German war criminal Von Richthofen was no such thing. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2022, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-dumbest-worst-updating-old-brand-for-the-21st-century-ad-campaign-you-saw/968633/4 "2022-07-27T12:51:27Z")
Maybe it’s just me but I really hate Kia’s new logo. Every time I see it I think it looks more like KM or KN than KIA. The old logo in the oval was perfectly fine - and readable! But I guess the new logo is more edgy or something. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2022, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-dumbest-worst-updating-old-brand-for-the-21st-century-ad-campaign-you-saw/968633/5 "2022-07-27T15:08:07Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > > [@Asuka](#): > > > > a real life German war criminal ⁢ > > Von Richthofen was no such thing. ⁢ Perhaps he got him mixed up with this cousin, whose [Wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfram_Freiherr_von_Richthofen) has this quote: > Richthofen was a de facto war criminal, as virtually all other senior commanders on the Eastern Front were guilty of violating the Geneva Conventions in the handling of civilians and prisoners of war, whose abuse Richthofen condoned. Richthofen’s death weeks after the war prevented his probable arrest and subsequent prosecution at the High Command trial. It’s sourced from _Wolfram von Richthofen: Master of the German Air War_ by James Corum (page 26). (Full disclosure: the cousin is who showed up first when I googled the name in your post. For a bit I thought he was the Red Baron, until I googled that phrase and saw he was his fourth cousin.) ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2022, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-dumbest-worst-updating-old-brand-for-the-21st-century-ad-campaign-you-saw/968633/6 "2022-07-27T15:13:18Z")
Unless the book I just read was mistaken there was one incident where the Red Baron shot at another pilot coming down in a parachute. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2022, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-dumbest-worst-updating-old-brand-for-the-21st-century-ad-campaign-you-saw/968633/7 "2022-07-27T15:55:34Z")
Only made a war crime _long_ after WWI. And I can’t find a cite of him doing so, perhaps you’d care to share? ---
**Author:** ![Wolf333](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf333/32/3460_2.png) [@Wolf333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolf333)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2022, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-dumbest-worst-updating-old-brand-for-the-21st-century-ad-campaign-you-saw/968633/8 "2022-07-27T16:00:33Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Maybe it’s just me but I really hate Kia’s new logo. Every time I see it I think it looks more like KM or KN than KIA. The old logo in the oval was perfectly fine - and readable! But I guess the new logo is more edgy or something. I keep thinking that Trent Reznor started making cars. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2022, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-dumbest-worst-updating-old-brand-for-the-21st-century-ad-campaign-you-saw/968633/9 "2022-07-27T16:20:06Z")
Don’t know if this counts as a campaign but GM’s new lower case logo is quite unimpressive. I’m sure someone got paid thousands to come up with it and I think they wasted their money. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2022, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-dumbest-worst-updating-old-brand-for-the-21st-century-ad-campaign-you-saw/968633/10 "2022-07-27T19:38:28Z")
Not that I care, but wasn’t there considerable blowback for killing off Mr. Peanut? Is @Asuka limiting this to logos/mascots? Because if not then “New Coke” as to be a frontrunner. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2022, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-dumbest-worst-updating-old-brand-for-the-21st-century-ad-campaign-you-saw/968633/11 "2022-07-27T19:40:05Z")
Buick. Thread can now be closed. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2022, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-dumbest-worst-updating-old-brand-for-the-21st-century-ad-campaign-you-saw/968633/12 "2022-07-27T19:43:34Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Don’t know if this counts as a campaign but GM’s new lower case logo is quite unimpressive. I’m sure someone got paid thousands to come up with it and I think they wasted their money. - That’s what happens when you go cheap. I just looked at it. Reminds me of Instagram’s logo. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2022, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-dumbest-worst-updating-old-brand-for-the-21st-century-ad-campaign-you-saw/968633/13 "2022-07-27T19:49:56Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > Unless the book I just read was mistaken there was one incident where the Red Baron shot at another pilot coming down in a parachute. Allied pilots in WWI did not have parachutes. They were actively discouraged (the cockpits were too small and the higher ups were afraid pilots would bail out too often, letting a perfectly good plane crash). Germans wore them toward the end of the war, but it may have been after von Richthoven’s death and, of course, he wasn’t going to shoot German pilots. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2022, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-dumbest-worst-updating-old-brand-for-the-21st-century-ad-campaign-you-saw/968633/14 "2022-07-27T20:20:44Z")
Not an updated mascot, but a failed attempt to make a brand appear more youthful: From what I understand, the “This is not your father’s Oldsmobile” campaign did more harm than good. It did nothing to make younger people think Oldsmobiles were cool, _and_ it alienated older buyers who wanted a “traditional” Oldsmobile. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2022, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-dumbest-worst-updating-old-brand-for-the-21st-century-ad-campaign-you-saw/968633/15 "2022-07-27T20:45:59Z")
Pearl Milling Company pancake mix & syrup. I totally understand why they changed the name, but the name they chose is uninspired, at best. It sounds like an Aldi/Walmart/other store brand. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2022, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-dumbest-worst-updating-old-brand-for-the-21st-century-ad-campaign-you-saw/968633/16 "2022-07-27T21:06:35Z")
Seriously. It’s like they acknowledge the brand is known as a stuffy old-man car, so the commercials these days are focused on imagery of young people, who refer to their car as “your Buick” (who really does that?) with all the tech gizmos. I recall the only reason the brand stayed off the chopping block when GM restructured after being bailed-out was that it was popular in overseas markets, particularly China. Buick stayed while Pontiac ended. I may be wrong on that. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2022, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-dumbest-worst-updating-old-brand-for-the-21st-century-ad-campaign-you-saw/968633/17 "2022-07-27T21:06:54Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Is @Asuka limiting this to logos/mascots? Because if not then “New Coke” as to be a frontrunner. No limited to mascots but it is limited to since 2000 so New Coke is out ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2022, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-dumbest-worst-updating-old-brand-for-the-21st-century-ad-campaign-you-saw/968633/18 "2022-07-27T21:10:38Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > No limited to mascots but it is limited to since 2000 so New Coke is out You sure? > [@Asuka](#): > > Not just within the last 22 years by the way, as the 90s also saw plenty of “We have to update this character from the 1920s to fit into the 1990s!” ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2022, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-dumbest-worst-updating-old-brand-for-the-21st-century-ad-campaign-you-saw/968633/19 "2022-07-27T21:12:58Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Don’t know if this counts as a campaign but GM’s new lower case logo is quite unimpressive. I’m sure someone got paid thousands to come up with it and I think they wasted their money. Wow, I’m from Michigan and had not yet seen that. I can’t believe they changed their logo like that. The one from 1964 is all I’ve known. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2022, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-dumbest-worst-updating-old-brand-for-the-21st-century-ad-campaign-you-saw/968633/20 "2022-07-27T21:30:14Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > You sure? Oops. I misread it. My bad. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-dumbest-worst-updating-old-brand-for-the-21st-century-ad-campaign-you-saw/968633.md?page=2)