10 most recent ad failures: Who is being criticized on the web today and for what

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Advertising is a product of the creative genius of a person who, no, no, and will fail, showing the whole world extraordinary, often incomprehensible, and sometimes completely insane decisions, due to which scandals instantly break out around the world's major brands. Throughout the history of advertising, many creative minds have faced the problem of rejection of their creativity, with the fact that end consumers see in a beautiful picture or video is not at all what was in them, thereby significantly reducing the level of interest and trust in the brand itself. We have compiled for you a list of the most high-profile advertising scandals over the past few years.

1. Reebok and sexist posters

The original Reebok advertising campaign in the world is called #bemorehuman, where posters depict strong and athletic girls. Thus, the brand emphasizes that not only the male half of their audience can be strong and confident, but also the female half. So they get into the top ten, since the topic of male difference from female in modern society is one of the most discussed. In Russia, they decided that such a move would be extremely boring and banal, and therefore in the #nivkakieramki advertising they suggested that athletic girls switch from the needle of male approval to a male face. Perhaps, in this way, the creators decided that such sexism, paired with ardent feminism, would bring them success, but they miscalculated: in just a couple of hours of posting on Instagram, the ad collected an incredible amount of negative reviews, thereby forcing advertisers to remove it in disgrace.

2. H&M on the wave of racism

Clothing brand H&M last year released a new collection of its clothes, among which there were children's models. And everything would be fine if users did not notice one interesting detail: in the pictures with children showing new hoodies and sweatshirts, there is a black boy in a green sweater, on which the inscription "The coolest monkey in the jungle" flaunts. It is still not known for sure whether it was a marketer's mistake or a photographer's oversight that he was shooting children, but such an embarrassment forced the brand to revise its collection, which, by the way, failed in sales. And as a bonus - advertisers who have left the brand and thousands of subscribers on social networks.

3. Sexual implications of Vilnius tourism advertising

Probably, many tourists have heard about the capital of Lithuania, and maybe even visited it, enjoying its beauty, pleasant views and interesting locations. In August last year, the city administration decided to create an advertising campaign that would draw more attention to their city. This is how posters and even videos appeared that proclaimed that Vilnius is the G-spot in Europe. The characteristic sexual message in the picture, where a girl in a frank pose crumples a sheet in the form of a map, on which this city is located, caused a flurry of indignation and in places of approval on the network. That, in general, did not negatively affect the flow of tourists to the city, who appreciated the creativity of such a scandalous move.

4. Revenge for banal gifts on February 23rd in DNS advertising

DNS electronics and equipment stores located in Vladivostok, on the eve of the main men's holiday, released an interesting video. His plot was outrageously simple: a man drives a car into a snow-covered forest, pulls a tear-stained girl out of the trunk, hands her a pack of socks, which she gave him, and forces her to take up a shovel to bury such a stupid gift. In the next shots, the same happens with a girl who presented her beloved defender with an antiperspirant. The main message of this company, as you might guess, was the incentive to buy the right and good gifts. But users did not appreciate such humor and the video, instead of becoming hype and popular, received a huge number of dislikes, and the company was accused of sexism and chauvinism.

5. Amazon and fascist symbols of the Third Reich

Amazon is one of the most popular not only in America, but all over the world. It's no secret that this internet retailer often invests in TV shows, films, various merchandise and even books. Therefore, a new scandal was caused by an attempt to promote the series "The Man in the High Castle". For this, special posters were created that adorned billboards throughout New York. According to the plot of the film, Japan and Germany won the Second World War, and therefore the Statue of Liberty is decorated with a fascist swastika, and also salutes in the German manner. In addition, several subway cars were painted according to the style of the series: half were in the colors of fascist conquered America, and the other in Japan. The cherry on the cake in this scandal was the fact that such actions were not coordinated with the city administration, and therefore the advertisement was quickly removed, and the discontent of the residents does not subside to this day, which became a kind of reason for the low ratings of this series.

6. Toxic Men in Gillette Blade Ads

The famous brand Gillette, which has always positioned itself as the best products for men, released a new video in January this year and presented its new slogan, which sounds like "For the best men." At first glance, there is nothing criminal in this video, but only the actors and famous personalities saw in it not only aggressive feminism, but also an attempt to humiliate all men. The plot of the video is quite simple: with the help of vivid pictures and voiceover, it is argued that men can change their "stereotypical" behavior for the better. Bullying, sexual abuse, fights between children and much more are cited as examples. This is what caused the outrage, because with this video the brand makes it clear that all men are bad, without exception. Many popular cultural figures and politicians spoke negatively on their social networks, and also sharply opposed the use of the products of this brand, which significantly undermined its popularity.

7. Heineken and whites only beer

Surprisingly, the internationally popular alcoholic beverage brand Heineken fell victim to its own creativity last year. A new commercial released by this brewery chain featured the slogan “Lighter is the best”. And all would be fine if in the video frames a bottle of light beer did not drive past several black people to eventually fall into the hands of a white woman. Of course, just a couple of hours after the release, this ad caused a flurry of negativity on social networks, since users caught in it the notes of very obvious racism. As a result, the company had to apologize, withdraw the video from the rental, and also release a special limited edition of beer for black people.

8. Humiliation of Chinese culture from Dolce & Gabbana

One of the most notorious scandals of the past year was a kind of war between Dolce's representatives and China. The company ran its advertisements in Shanghai with several commercials featuring beautiful Chinese women eating Italian and other food using traditional Chinese chopsticks. At the same time, a voice-over in Chinese with obvious sarcasm indicates how uncomfortable the girl is and how it would be better for her to act, while playing on such double cultural standards. Of course, the Chinese authorities did not stand aside, and Dolce's collection was quickly withdrawn from stores, and the company's shares fell significantly in the Asian market. The conflict was also fueled by Stefano Gabbana, who on his social networks called China a disgusting mafia country. However, he then stated that his account had been hacked, and a video with an official apology was released on the network.

9. Pepsi and the utopian view of rallies

In 2017, the Pepsi company invited Kendall Jenner to star in a new video, which was to become the face of their new drink, Pepsi Max. Probably, the company itself wanted to pay tribute to the events that took place in the United States and were called Black Lives Matter, but users did not appreciate such blatant disrespect. According to the plot of the video, the main character takes part in the filming, and when she sees a rally taking place under the window, she decides to join it. At the end of the video, she shares a bottle of drink with the policeman, after which he smiles and the whole crowd of protestors rejoices. The video was criticized not only for disrespect for real events, but also for plagiarism, since the scene with the drink was taken from a real-life photograph. In addition, a flurry of criticism fell on the company for the fact that in such a sweet and utopian manner it outlined everything that usually happens at rallies, and therefore, on social networks, users began to bombard the company with photos of what actually happens during a clash of civilians. and the police.

10. Nike and Disrespect for American Tradition

Nike has been shooting motivating and rather positive advertisements for several years, where their main slogan is "Just do it." But the choice of the model last year left much to be desired: the company presented several photos with the participation of Colin Kapernik, who at that time had already managed to be in the center of the scandal and received a negative assessment even from President Donald Trump. The thing is that Colin and several other American football players simply got down on one knee while singing the anthem, thereby showing their protest and tribute to the memory of black people who suffered from the actions of the police. The Americans saw this as disrespect for culture, and therefore Nike's decision to make Colin the face of their company led to disaster: the most popular personalities, athletes, actors and even politicians publicly burned their things of this brand and went to other companies, and Nike shares are rapidly falling to this day.

Continuing the theme - that appeared in the advertising of dubious companies.