Bad Advertisements: What were they thinking??

Cheeky Employee

Okay, so Advertising is difficult.  You have to reach a target market which may include a wide demographic of people.  Funny, cute, short, sweet these are the things that a good ad is made of.  The trouble is just that it can go wrong in so many ways.  I’ve compiled a fun list for us to enjoy and hopefully learn from.  Let us not repeat the mistakes of those that crashed and burned before us. 

LifeLock 2007:

So this man challenged the world and it would have been a great ad if the world didn’t hit so damn hard.  This executive ‘come at me bro’ was met with humiliation and headaches.  Many people stole Todd’s info and his company stood red-faced because of this embarrassing ad.

Please, stop complaining you Rich Bastards:

It’s 2015 and Airbnb don’t want to pay taxes meant for hotels, that’s fine, but Airbnb, honey, that’s an internal issue.  And out goes the most passive-aggressive and ‘sorry I’m rich’ ad America has ever seen.

Actually, that’s what CEO Brian Chesky said about the ads: “It made us look like jerks.”

Political ads:

Two of the most controversial ads of 2017 were, of course, the Pepsi ‘start a conversation ad and the Nivea ‘white is purity’ ad.  These were obviously a bad idea in retrospect and with politics in the western world in such a sensitive position you should really double and triple check before launching a campaign.  Making light of Black Lives Matter by saying it could all be fixed by a soda is obviously offensive to all those whose lives have been touched by the issue.  As for the ‘white is purity’ thing.  Really Nivea?  How could you not see this coming?

They are not alone, however, in 2002 Starbucks released an ad making fun of 9/11!  How many people signed off on this?  We see your twin towers and we are not amused.

Sensitive Subjects:

Political ads aside, some personal subjects can be emotionally devastating to bring up and should not be taken lightly.

This ad wants you to feel good about buying their clothes oh and drugging your date for the night… Wait…WHAT?

Live and Learn.  These ads were a display of what not to do, hopefully, they won’t make the same mistakes again.  It really makes you consider how many people sign off on ad-campaigns for these big businesses.  How many people thought that these were good ideas?  Seen any other bad ads?