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31 Trivia Tidbits About Embarrassing Mistakes Made by Countries and Corporations

Some people got fired for these blunders for sure

31 Trivia Tidbits About Embarrassing Mistakes Made by Countries and Corporations

July 15, 2024

They say that hindsight is 20/20, and nowhere is that more evident than after a big ol’ blunder. The examples below are proof positive. After reading them, visualize the meetings where people actually greenlit these fumbles, then please join us in head-shaking bewilderment.

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31

CRACKED CORPORATE CRASH & BURN SAYING THE QUIET PART OUT LOUD Gerald Ratner, the CEO of a jewelry group, made a speech in 1991 that included the musing: People say, 'how can you sell this for such a low price?' I say 'because it's total crap. His careless words are now known as doing a Ratner, and cost his company a whooping £500 million. — Source

30

CORPORATE CRASH & BURN CATCHING THE IRE OF THE DEEP STATE Patrick Byrne, the CEO of Overstock, stepped down in 2019 after he said weird stuff about the Deep State, which caused the company's stock to fall by 36%. Coincidence? CRACKED — Source

29

Hooters used to operate an airline. SOUTH MYF Hooters Air got started in 2003, and every flight had two Hooters girls (who would come in from local restaurants). It folded after three years, and lost Hooters $40 million. CRACKED.COM — Source

28

CRACKED Weinerville - Netscape 5 x File Edit View Go Communicator Help My N Back Forward Reload Home Search Netscape Print Security Stop Bookmarks Location: http://www.geocilies. s.com/Heartland/Meadows/7322/ Welcome to Wienerville Where dachshunds will walk all over your heart YAHOO! Yahoo purchased Geocities in 1999 for over $4 billion, but the acquisition was ultimately unsuccessful and the site was shut down in 2009. — Source

27

CRACKED Tumblr - Home t of Fandom Mones tumblr. Search OPEN 17 0.4 №75 ..... What's New Verson History 10.0 Made Thanks for choising Tumblr a pixce & connect North others over shared interests Preview YAHOO! In 2013, Yahoo acquired Tumblr for $1.1 billion, but the platform struggled to become profitable and was eventually sold to Automattic for $3 million in 2019. — Source

26

CRACKED SAPPLE APPLE BY NATURAL CONSTRAWBERRY EACH TEA Snapp - MON TEA WITH Snapple i NATURAL 40% MANGO MADNESS napp IN NATURAL { LUG AM E I NER name Snapple I ALL NATURAL 9 I apple - Lebon S - names ME 316 THEMA - I name are QUAKER Quaker Oats Co. agreed to sell Snapple Beverage Corp. to Triarc Cos. for $300 million, only 27 months after Quaker spent $1.7 billion to buy the maker of trendy drinks, resulting in a loss of $1.4 billion for Quaker. — Source

25

CRACKED BLOCKBUSTER VIDEO BLOCKBUSTER VIDEO BLOCKBUSTER VIDEO Deli BLOCKBUSTER John Antioco's arrogance in September 2000 cost Blockbuster its future when he refused to consider the possibility of buying Netflix for $50 million, which could have saved the company from its eventual bankruptcy in 2014. — Source

24

CRACKED ОБЛЕН NECTI SOUTH AX JR HER #News Corporation boliet NEWS CORP. News Corp. sold Myspace for $35 million, a huge loss compared to the $580 million they paid for it in 2005. — Source

23

CRACKED CITIBANK Citibank made a mistake and accidentally sent $900 million to the wrong people, and the lenders refused to return the money. The lenders were taking advantage of the situation due to a longer running saga between them and Revlon, the company that borrowed the money. — Source

22

Public votes that backfired big time DUB THE DEW Mountai Dew they De DE Z This very short-lived 2012 promotion had Mountain Dew fans name its new drink. Suggestions like the contest winner, Hitler did nothing wrong had Mountain Dew apologize to consumers, claiming that they lost to the Internet. CRACKED — Source

21

Public votes that backfired big time PEPSI NUMBER pepdi FEVER A Pepsi contest in the Philippines had a grand prize of 1 million pesos, but an error at the bottling plant led to 600,000 winning bottles. Riots and even grenade attacks injured dozens and killed 5 people in the deadliest marketing disaster in history. CRACKED — Source

20

CRACKED #McDStories To improve their image, McDonald's asked people to share McDonald's related stories. Pouncing on the opportunity, the Twittersphere shared thousands of stories involving slaughterhouses, food poisoning, and diabetes. CO. m The Saweetie Meal GY M BBQ Sweetie CREW . — Source

19

CRACKED #powergenitalia Powergen (UK's leading gas and electricity company) chose an unfortunate domain name for their Italian subsidiary. Powergen Italia really could've used some capitalisation. POWERGEN — Source

18

CRACKED #RIMjobs BlackBerry maker Research In Motion advertised job vacancies on Twitter with #RIMJobs. No one opposed this in the boardroom? - RIM — Source

17

PARK FOR POLICE - FROM S KB46 ONE HUNDRED the FACEBOOK IRAL HENERVE NOTE joking 8 J LIKES KB46279860I B2 TENDER PRODUCE LOSAL - CENTE RUL KOK - CLASS - Coolede DEP GRAGKED.COM 1201 UNITED ST Today Coca-Cola The State Department spent $600, ,000 in 2012 to attract fans to its Facebook page. Shockingly, KB4 this did nothing to raise America's standing in the world, not even in terms of the sad metric of social 46279 60 I media engagement. 860 I — Source

16

THE FOR FEDERAL - a TEXT KB462 NOTE en 60 I REGISTER KB will B2 TOSHER - THE con I098 VES YOU منفذا - LITTER SCRIPTA MANET THE REGISTER FEDERAL VOLUME 1 OF THE UNITED 1934 STATES NUMBER I D 46 Washington, Saturday, March 14, 1936 8 22'28 g. 19.26 the to corner No. 2 K point on the por RESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES seesbore of mull Island, facing easterly end of the this corner & U. B 21 IL standard Atlantic Ocien: from e EXECUTIVE ORDER 2 WC COR 2 BULLA ISLAND 1935 crete poet marked 18 m by — Source

15

FOR NITE POLICE a UNK TEXTURE KB46 ONE HUNDRED KB SAVING FEDERAL NOTE HIPSTERS KB 46279860I B2 860 I TOSHA AND - 500 - Done Coca-Cola - - D A CRACKED.COM HS His Coobede Produce The NIH spent $5 million on an anti-smoking campaign targeted specifically at hipsters, those KB4 focused on the alternative music scene, local artists and designers, and eclectic self expression. 60 I Hipsters went on smoking. A — Source

14

PARK United TEXT KB45 THIS DORMANT BUILDING KB46 B2 Health LESS TENDER NO - United - THE D CRACKED.COM 2011 HS PER Toke The military built a $36 million military headquarters in Afghanistan. Not that bad a price KB for a military HQ. Except, the military there never actually wanted it, and it was never used. 46279 60 I KB46279 02 98601 — Source

13

PARK USA FOR TENDER is KB46 ONE HUNDRED DO PENIS NOTS H FEDERAL HENERUE NOTE KB 46279860I PUMPS B2 TENDER PRODUCE LOSAL NOVO 140% FOX - - D GRACKED COM HS PER Tobac VA People's It's surprising that until 2005, Medicare covered penis pumps, which can do bad things to men's equipment. Worse, it spent $14 million more on the things than the devices normally retail for. 46279 60 I KB462798 160 I 02 — Source

12

PARK NHE FOR KB OPERATION MENERVE NOTE 46279860I IGLOO WHITE au TENDER LOSAL DE Dates - KOL Chicago BATTERY MODULE ENVIRONMENTAL SIGNAL PROCESSOR ACOUSTIC ENCODER PORTS CODE PLUG D 46 MIKE ASSEMBLY DECODER AUDIO AMPLIFIER RECEIVER TRANSMITTER GRAGKED.COM SOFT FER the America spent $1.7 billion on airdropping sensors along the Но Chi Minh Trail during the Vietnam KB4 War. The enemy immediately spotted the sensors and threw bags of pee at PET them, giving the Air Force 846279 60 I KB false readings. 860 I 02 — Source

11

PARK TENDER FOR S POLICE KB46 WEB 98601 NOTE KB FEDERAL NOTE RES 442279860I SCREW-UPS TOSHER 120 V NOT con Close Costado www.ealthcare.gov - Pair HealthCare.gov Learn Get D 46 AUT Small Businesses Individuals & & Families CRACKED CON $4 million is not the amount spent on the site HealthCare.gov. $4 million is just the additional amount spent in the opening days after the site failed 4 ... the amount sent to the same contractors who screwed the site up 46279 60 I in the first place. 860 I — Source

10

THE FOR ... POOP 5 6 FEDERAL - KB46 NOTE HUNDRED the CO T KB 46279860I PLANE B2 TENDER PRODUCE - NO - Alone 26852 D 46 U.S. AIR FORCE FS-852 USAF CRACKED.COM One of the Air Force's many costly aircraft experiments involved sticking a propeller on the F-84F KB4 Thunderstreak. The resulting constant sonic boom triggered nausea, seizures, and the 60 1 loosening of people's bowels. — Source

9

The US flew nearly $12 billion in shrink-wrapped $100 bills into Iraq. KAZA Then they tossed it around without checking to see who was receiving it or how it was being spent. A congressional committee found that a staggering amount of the cash, which was was earmarked for Iraqi ministries and US contractors, was lost to corruption and waste. CRACKED.COM http://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/feb/08/usa iraq1 — Source

8

In 2010, the Census Bureau wanted people to get excited about taking the census. 2 Ise So they spent T $2.5 million on a on Super Bowl ad. mo S The dreary commercial featured Ed Begley Jr. and a few other B-list celebrities standing around a table, talking. this CRACKED.COM http://www.cbsnews.com/news/census-spends-25m-on-super-bowl-ads/ — Source

7

Cities across the country are implementing gun buyback programs. HD 63832296 J070682 Buyback value: $50-$250 Which are causing people to buy more guns. Not only are the collected guns not likely to be the ones used in violent crime, but a seller will often use the money to buy a new gun. CRACKED.COM http p://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp7id=2128 — Source

6

The NIH has spent $1.55 million on a video game app called Kiddio: Food Fight. In it, you play a mother persuading her kid to taste vegetables. Because harried moms want nothing more than to spend rare moments of leisure playing force the kid to eat veggies on their phones. CRACKED.COM https://salmon house gov/media-center/press-releases/ rep-salmon-introduces-final-shrink-our-spending-bill-2015-cuts-funding — Source

5

Between 1942 and 1964, the U.S. Military built an artificial island in the Pacific. Johnson Atoll, 860 mi southwest of Hawaii It was abandoned in 2004. We don't know how much it cost, but a comparable project in scope and scale would be the Japanese Kansai Airport. That was another artificial island built to support a landing strip, and it cost around $20 billion. CRACKED.COM www.urbanghostsmedia.com/2010/04/isolated-and-abandoned-military-airbase-johnston-atoll — Source

4

Wasting Money

In 2010, the GSA spent $800,000 on a conference in Vegas. P I I I P NO 850198162 D CM ... OTI OOT NATION eep ried Twinkie The General Services Administration is the eRm agency that is in charge of eliminating government waste. Expenses included a $75,000 team building exercise, various $5,600 in-room parties, $31,000 networking receptions and assorted mysterious catering bills, such as a $7,000 sushi bill. CRACKED.COM http://www.gsaig. ov/?LinkServID=90537F5B-FBF8-E39E-A4F0D09005742C28&showMeta=0 — Source

3

During the Vietnam War, the U.S. decided to relocate South Vietnamese villagers. It was called the Strategic Hamlet Program, and the idea was to move the villagers away from the soldiers, so they wouldn't get hurt. They'd be grateful, and support our side. But we grossly underestimated the number of villagers. It turned out there were 8 million of them, and the government had no way of providing for them. The resulting discontent made them easy recruits for the communists. CRACKED.COM http://www.britannica. com/event/Vietnam-War#ref809122 — Source

2

It took 10 years GRACKED.COM (from 1938 to 1948) for the Secrets Service to catch the disgive HUNDRE Mister NOT LEGAL TE If Eight-Eighty ONE PL LAY LA - DOLLARS .. who had 'Wahsington' on his counterfeit $1 bills. That's right. Counterfeit $1 bills. — Source

1

ochi.ru 2014 Russia spent $8.7 Billion to construct a highway connecting Sochi to the mountain hosting the ski and snowboard events. This is more than the total cost for the 2010 Winter Olympics. GRACKED.COM — Source

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