7 of the Worst Advertisement Fails Ever
Businesses, in an effort to promote their products as effectively as possible, often come under a lot of pressure to perfectly convey the product or service that they are offering. They usually get it right, but other times they mess up in some silly ways. But I suppose any publicity is still publicity. Read on to see some of the worst advertisement fails ever:
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20% off what exactly?
Bed Bath & Beyond is a merchandise retail store which stocks basically everything for the home but especially for the bedroom, bathroom and kitchen. It’s counted among the Fortune 500 Companies and the Forbes Global 2000, so it’s kinda a big deal.
The deal I’m not getting though is the deal with this ad… I honestly cannot fathom it.
Let’s try and analyse this. The fork has four prongs, so each prong would account for 25% (or a quarter) of the total number of prongs. So removing one prong does not equal to 20%, so technically, it should have been 25% off and not 20%.
Unless this ad has a completely different meaning because I really don’t know.
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“I Take a Sheet in the Pool”
Worst.Slogan.Ever.
If the intention was to create something catchy that people would remember, then I guess they achieved their goal, because no one’s going to forget this sheet..
This billboard is in promotion of Sheets Energy Strips, which are dissolvable sheets placed on the tongue that are said to give you a boost of energy. Unfortunately, its slogan hints at a very unhygienic practice! Though they have some pretty big stars endorsing their product, like Serena Williams, Pitbull and Lebron James (who also happens to be one of the co-founders), a bad slogan is just a bad slogan.
Stick to the toilet please.
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“Look 10 pounds lighter!”
If this said, MADE you 10 pounds lighter, not just LOOK 10 pounds lighter, then I’d find my way to ProShop as quickly as possible.
What this is really advertising though is swim wears that make you look 10 pounds lighter when you put them on. But again, there is no excuse for using the wrong font. That ‘u’ looks a lot like an ‘h’, and gives the ad a completely different meaning (my mind ventured into instant diarrhea territory). Proofread and font check your ad copy please.
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“AquaPoo, I choose you!”
Aqua what?
The product in question is the Ozarka AquaPod, which is a bottled spring water for children. The designers messed up badly on the font though, because that ‘D’ looks suspiciously like an ‘O’, and that gives the product an entirely new meaning altogether.
The next time you eat or drink something and it tastes like poo, well you know who they got the idea from.
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“Try to contain your excitement”
The first time I saw this ad, I couldn’t believe it. All this for sanitary napkin? And then the tagline, “Try to contain your excitement”, like who is EVER this excited about their period!
Well, to my utter astonishment, it was an ad for British fashion brand, Harvey Nichols, which depicts a model peeing herself, due to her over excitement for clothes. The theory behind this, you ask, “they are merely making ‘a visual presentation of a well-known phrase’”.
Who really pees themselves when they’re excited about clothes? Who even gets excited and wants to go buy clothes because they see someone peeing his/herself because of excitement over said clothes?
What I just asked did not make much sense and it’s because this ad makes absolutely no sense.
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“Give her crabs for Christmas”
Wouldn’t we all love to get crabs for Christmas?
Not all advertising should be direct, especially when a seemingly innocent phrase has a double meaning. The Beach House Carryout while promoting their steamed crabs, made things a bit too literal with the tagline “give her crabs for Christmas”. In case you weren’t aware, ‘crabs’ is also the common name for the STD, Pubic Lice. Yeesh, that’s not something anyone would want to get.
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“2 Fingers and a Thumb”
It is indeed amazing what you can do with two fingers and a thumb. Two in the pink, and one in the… oh wait.
This is a bowling ad. And coincidentally, you also use two fingers and a thumb to bowl, but who approved this ad? Bowling is not the first thing that came to my mind. I mean, take a look at the smile on her face.
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