# When Marketing Goes Wrong! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 29, 2004, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-marketing-goes-wrong/271778 "2004-10-29T02:17:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MidnightRadio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@MidnightRadio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MidnightRadio)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2004, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-marketing-goes-wrong/271778/21 "2004-10-30T08:13:33Z")
> [@bluecanary](#): > > **andymurph64** : Seriously? I know that there was a weight loss candy called Ayds that was discontinued/renamed following the discovery and naming of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, but I had no idea they had run an ad campaign as tasteless as this in the later years of the product. I don’t think they did. I think what **andymurph64** was saying was that they ran a commercial with a woman saying, “Ayds helped me lose weight!” during a scheduled program about AIDS. It was just an unfortunate commercial-scheduling coincidence. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2004, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-marketing-goes-wrong/271778/22 "2004-10-30T08:31:34Z")
> [@hildea](#): > > (A sample [here](http://www.propaganda-as.no/php/art.php?id=97127) [redneck] Damn! You fuckers sure talk funny! [/redneck] 😃 Put me down for McDonald’s as well. I guess they aren’t targeting anyone that’s passed the 10th grade. Another I’ll add, though I think it’s just an industry ad, is the one touting parental locks for cable service. It shows some spineless pussified fat wimp trying to tune to a channel. His young daughter gives him a snotty attidtude and tells him he has to ask his wife for the code since she locked the channel. Him: “Honneeyyy. Can I watch this?” Her: “No.” Him: Look at the camera and give a ‘I have no balls’ look and a shrug. WTF? His daughter is standing there, so he’s not going for porn. (Based on the setting, no he wasn’t) How fucking whipped do you have to be as an adult man to let your wife dictate what you watch? I just keep imagining the shitstorm this would cause if it was the husband denying channels to his wife. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2004, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-marketing-goes-wrong/271778/23 "2004-10-30T09:04:49Z")
They just added to this ad…it cracks me up! It shows the two English guys…absolutely fascinated by the rear hatch! It’s like watching Homer Simpson…“hatch goes up,hatch goes down!” Man I never thought a car ad could be so stupid! ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2004, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-marketing-goes-wrong/271778/24 "2004-10-30T09:53:39Z")
> [@hildea](#): > > In my teens, I used to buy clothes at Hennes & Mauritz. Then they started a sexist advertisment campaign (huge posters with women in underwear and “fuck me” expressions and positions), and I’ve boicotted them ever since. They run a similar campaign each year, and have single handedly pushed the limit on speculative advertisments in Norway. (At first, the posters were controversial. Now we’ve gotten used to them, and other companies are following their lead.) (A sample [here](http://www.propaganda-as.no/php/art.php?id=97127), probably work safe (woman in underwear)). I don’t get this - what’s controversial about women in underwear? They’re all over the place over here, and that’s the way I likes it. ---
**Author:** ![Iceland\_Blue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/4bbf92/32.png) [@Iceland\_Blue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iceland_Blue)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2004, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-marketing-goes-wrong/271778/25 "2004-10-30T10:07:29Z")
Yep.Bring it on.Even our ASA has got itself together and ruled pictures of woman in underwear aren’t offensive 😃 Now as for that Bud Waaaazzzuuup advert, that killed any desire I had for Bud. Every time it came on I turned the telly over.As I cheerfully told their marketing bod who stopped me in the street to ask my opinion. Which I gave. Dreckly. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2004, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-marketing-goes-wrong/271778/26 "2004-10-30T14:12:49Z")
There used to be a radio commercial for Parks’ Sausages that featured a couple of annoying, whiny, kids rudely demanding, “More Parks’ Sausages, Mom!” I think eventually they added an equally obnoxious “Please?” to the end, but every time I saw that brand I thought of those irritating voices and bought something else. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2004, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-marketing-goes-wrong/271778/27 "2004-10-30T14:16:12Z")
> [@TellMeI'mNotCrazy](#): > > TJ Maxx had a string of commercials that pissed me off to no end. I’m no feminist, but these ads all showed women who were supposedly women of importance (CEOs, etc) dropping everything to go to a sale. The message that I got was, well, they may be in power, but they’re women, and we _all_ know what that means - Shopping! Bullshit. The recent string of JC Penney’s ads had the tired stereotype of the incompetant father taking care of the kids (who were running around being absolute hooligans), with Dad asking, “Where is your mother?” Mom, of course, was out shopping at Penney’s. You know how those crazy women are, just can’t pass up a sale. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![3894](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/f4b2a3/32.png) [@3894](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3894)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2004, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-marketing-goes-wrong/271778/28 "2004-10-30T14:24:51Z")
Anna Nicole for TrimSpa, baby There are three such ads. The first, Anna arriving at a premiere, is okayish, although pretty much the last celeb I want to look like or be like is Anna Nicole. The other two ads are actually nauseating. There’s.Anna rolling around on a beach. Why, is that male model younger and buffer than her? I believe he is - and visibly, markedly so. And then there’s Anna all by herself in a bucket chair. She’s stretching and making with the claws, meowing/howling like a cat in heat. What were they thinking?! ---
**Author:** ![Sample\_the\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Sample\_the\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sample_the_Dog)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2004, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-marketing-goes-wrong/271778/29 "2004-10-30T14:37:41Z")
I absolutely refused to buy a product I once saw advertised that promised to “restore your short term memory loss”. I don’t care to have my short term memory loss restored, thank you very much! And no, I don’t recall the name of the product. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2004, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-marketing-goes-wrong/271778/30 "2004-10-30T15:47:25Z")
The two that sprung to mind were: Quiznos and from long ago - The “Where’s The Beef?” add by Wendy’s. I hated it and wouldn’t go to Wendy’s for a long long time. ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2004, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-marketing-goes-wrong/271778/31 "2004-10-30T16:31:41Z")
The last six months or so of VW commercials have been driving me up the wall. The jist of it is people are retarded and don’t know how to drive a car. Dealer: “See how the road is curving up ahead? Notice what happens when you move this giant round handle in front of you!” Customer: “WHAAAAAA! IT’S MAGICAL!!!” Then there was the one for their summer sales event where the customer says “tomato red?” and the dealer corrects her: “TORNADO red” and spins his hand around in a “tornado” motion. WHAT?! Is anyone else baffled by that? ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2004, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-marketing-goes-wrong/271778/32 "2004-10-30T17:26:11Z")
Every Wal-Mart commercial I’ve ever seen. I’m pretty sure that they don’t intend for me to think “I want to stay away from those people. Far, far away. Apparently, they’re at Wal-Mart, so I’d better not go there.” ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2004, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-marketing-goes-wrong/271778/33 "2004-10-30T17:32:19Z")
> [@hildea](#): > > In my teens, I used to buy clothes at Hennes & Mauritz. Then they started a sexist advertisment campaign (huge posters with women in underwear and “fuck me” expressions and positions), and I’ve boicotted them ever since. Well, you must just not be their target audience any more. Clearly, they’ve switched to selling clothes to the Frustrated Housewives/Divorcees Market. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2004, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-marketing-goes-wrong/271778/34 "2004-10-30T17:36:36Z")
> [@dwc1970](#): > > I don’t know what the hell Quizno’s was thinking when they had those infernal mutated singing rats in their commercial. This ad campaign is long gone but it has kept me from ever wanting to set foot inside a Quizno’s ever again. True, associating food products with creatures that resemble dead rats isn’t exactly the brightest advertising campaign on the face of the Earth. But Togo’s (or maybe it was Subway) had an even worse commercial: A woman is walking around downtown talking to a man, when the two of them pass a public trash can. The woman glimpses something in the trash can, turns around, **pulls a partially eaten Togo’s/Subway sandwich out of the trash can** , and proceeds to eat it. The implication was supposed to be that their sandwiches were **so** good you’ll still want to eat them even after they’ve been thrown away. The reaction this image induced, however, was “EWWWWWW!” ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2004, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-marketing-goes-wrong/271778/35 "2004-10-30T18:00:04Z")
I have made a solemn vow never, ever to purchase auto insurance from “Safe Auto”. I absolutely abhor that “1-800-SAFE-AUTO” jingle, and everyone in the commercial keeps rocking out to it-requesting it from bands, etc. Ugh ugh ugh!!! It’s enough to make me want to take a phillips head to my eardrums! ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-marketing-goes-wrong/271778/36 "2004-10-31T03:18:49Z")
There was a campaign Nissan ran for one of its Z models (can’t remember which number) featuring a Barbie doll dumping the Ken for a GI-Joe type, with music by Van Halen. Brilliantly conceived, hilarious and memorable. Sales dropped like a rock. In desperation, Nissan fired the ad agency and replaced the ads with some slapped-together “Save big during Nissan sales days” campaign that a group of local dealers had produced. Sales immediately increased. Sales people have argued for decades that humorous, thoughtful or intelligent ad campaigns don’t work nearly as well as hitting people over the head and screaming “BUY NOW!” Advertising people agree, but secretly believe that they can create the humorous/thoughtful/intelligent ad that proves the sales people wrong. ---
**Author:** ![fruitbat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@fruitbat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fruitbat)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-marketing-goes-wrong/271778/37 "2004-10-31T04:01:04Z")
Southwest Airlines runs a commercial local to the Boston area that advertises regular flights from Manchester, NH to Philly. The ad features a number of “regular folks” touting the virtues of Philadelphia. The best they can come up with is cheese steaks, pretzels (wtf?) and the liberty bell. What got me is that one guy says something like “Philly is like a baby New York”. I may well be sensitized by my years living in the Boston area, but if someone aired a commercial comparing Boston to “a baby New York” they would be run out of town. Does this bother Philadelphians as much as it would Bostonians? ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-marketing-goes-wrong/271778/38 "2004-10-31T04:04:04Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > There was a campaign Nissan ran for one of its Z models (can’t remember which number) featuring a Barbie doll dumping the Ken for a GI-Joe type, with music by Van Halen. Brilliantly conceived, hilarious and memorable. > > Sales dropped like a rock. > > In desperation, Nissan fired the ad agency and replaced the ads with some slapped-together “Save big during Nissan sales days” campaign that a group of local dealers had produced. Sales immediately increased. > > Sales people have argued for decades that humorous, thoughtful or intelligent ad campaigns don’t work nearly as well as hitting people over the head and screaming “BUY NOW!” Advertising people agree, but secretly believe that they can create the humorous/thoughtful/intelligent ad that proves the sales people wrong. It probably had something to do with the implication that a woman will abandon her man on the spot in favor of the first guy who pulls up in a nice car. Basically, Nissan insulted the women, and made the guys feel uncomfortable and vulnerable. Not a good way to give people a positive impression of your products. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-marketing-goes-wrong/271778/39 "2004-10-31T04:09:07Z")
Besides the Taco Bell ad I mentioned in the IMHO boycotting thread, there was an ad for Hardees about three years ago: Guy A: “Man, I’m so depressed, my girlfriend left me, I’m out of a job, etc…” Guy B: [Takes a bite from a Hardees burger] “So how’s that _girlfriend_ of yours doing?” So what’s the point of this commercial? Is it that only total assholes eat Hardees? That eating Hardees will turn you into a total asshole? In general any ad implying that the product is aimed at men who are sloppy and unkempt, don’t shower regularly, and are generally rude or ill-behaved will put me off. Remeber those Captain Morgan Spiced Rum ads from a few years back? ---
**Author:** ![fruitbat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@fruitbat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fruitbat)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-marketing-goes-wrong/271778/40 "2004-10-31T04:26:20Z")
Lest I forget, let me nominate the Mazda ad that pitches its car with “there was this car . . . and it had all this stuff”. They then follow up that brilliant premise by reminding you that they sell other cars with other stuff. Just how fucking stupid do they think I am? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-marketing-goes-wrong/271778.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-marketing-goes-wrong/271778.md?page=3)