40 Innovators and Thought Leaders Who Need to Sit in Time Out and Thought-Lead About What They’ve Done

The bad boys of bad business
40 Innovators and Thought Leaders Who Need to Sit in Time Out and Thought-Lead About What They’ve Done

It’s times like these that we stop and thank our lucky stars for the fact that we’re complete nobodies whose decisions mean absolutely nothing. Just thinking about the pressure that these decision makers were under is enough to make us a little faint. 

Maybe that’s why they seemed to have blurted out the first boneheaded idea that came to mind. The thought of stewing in the anxiety of their pitch for any longer was just unbearable. 

Here are some of those blurts that molded nicely into blunders…

Dr. Pepper

In 2007, Dr. Pepper held a promotion asking people to search for a coin in Boston's most historic graveyard. 1882 Dozens of people gathered at the Old Granary Burying Ground, where figures like John Hancock are buried, looking to dig around for the coin. Boston officials quickly denounced the promotion and had it shut down. CRACKED.COM

McDonald’s

M WAGON In 2006, McDonald's Japan ran a promotion in which 10,000 mp3 players would be awarded to lucky customers. The players contained a virus which stole data when connected to a computer. McDonald's had to provide the winners with an antivirus program and replace the players. GRAGKED.COM

Barrick Gold Corporation

In 2009, the Barrick Gold Corporation helped police burn down hundreds of houses in Papua New Guinea to clear the way for gold mining operations. The

Source

Time Warner and AOL Merger

CRACKED TIME WARNER AND AOL MERGER Time Warner and AOL got married in 2000, but it was a disaster. AOL had to write off almost $99 billion of Time Warner's value in 2002, and its worth dropped from $226 billion to only $20 billion. It's seen as one of the worst business decisions ever. AOL Time Warner $206 billion

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Ulta Beauty

Ulta Beauty apologized for a 'Come hang with Kate Spade' perfume promo CRACKED COM The designer died by suicide when she hanged herself in 2018. Spade's death led to a wave of conversations about mental health.

WFAA

Krispy Kreme

In 2015, Krispy Kreme had a promo naMED Frispy KKK Wednesday Krspy hreme Krirpy Kreme. Htull HALF TERM ACTIVITIES Xbany 900 1200 XLny 000 209 YORNGA

Ford

Ford held a promotional campaign in Belgium with the bold promise that each car would come with a free zombie. Ford The ad was meant to say, Every ca

Brazilian Oil Tycoon Elke Batista

CRACKED TUTE MILK $33 BILLION IN 18 MONTHS Eike Batista, a Brazilian oil tycoon, went from an estimated wealth of $34 billion to less than $1 billion in just 18 months. Until Elon came along, that made him a contender for the person who has lost the most money in the history of the world.

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LG’s Marketing Department

7:00 PM 7:00 PM 11 Sprint g Photo Nickbook Goodbe Campus LG When LG promoted their G2 phone in Seoul by attaching phone vouchers to helium balloons in a park, fans turned out with BB guns (one woman came with a spear) to pop the balloons. to the 1100 As a result of ensuing 010 chaos, several people were hospitalized. CRACKED.COM

Marketing Expert Tung Desem Waringin

An Indonesian marketing expert thought it would be a good idea to throw money out of a plane. Instead of a traditional campaign for his book, Tung Desem Waringin circled the soccer stadium in Serang, tossing roughly $10,000 on people who, on average, make $40/ month. The stunt ended up with a 13-year-old girl being hospitalized after collapsing in the crowd. CRACKED COM

Snapchat’s Marketing Department

Snapchat lost around $800 million in stock after running an ad on their platform for the mobile game Would You Rather? which mocked Rihanna's abuse. Would You Rather? Imposible Chokes WOULD YOU RATHER! Slap Rihanna Punch Chris Brown Many users deleted the app following PLAY her response. CRACKED.COM

Timothy’s World Coffee’s Marketing Department

In 2011, Timothy's World Coffee ran a campaign asking people to Like their Facebook page and receive four boxes of their single-serve coffee (which contains 24 packs in each box). WORLD Timothy's COFFEE Their stock of said boxes was depleted in just three days, and it took them more than two weeks to amend the terms that it would be on a first-come, first-served basis. CRACKED.COM

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Molson’s Marketing Department

Canadian brewing company Molson had college kids post party pictures on Facebook to promote their brand... MALEY - CANADIA MOLSON Lite Coors FINE ه FILSNER BUFRE LAGER BEER LIGH BEER LOZ (355mL) ...and they got slammed for supporting alcohol abuse when binge-drinking students (some underaged) lost their S**t. The backlash caused them to end the contest early and hide the promo pictures but they'd promised the student with the funniest, most interesting photos a holiday in Cancun, Mexico, so they had to pronounce a winner (of legal drinking age) anyway. CRACKED.COM

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American Apparel’s Marketing Department

GRAGKED.COM American Apparel wanted to launch an XL clothing line and created a casting call to hire plus-sized models to promote them. THE NEXT BIG THING However, they did so with awkward, offensive puns like calling their potential models 'booty-ful', 'full-sized fannies', and naming the contest The Next Big Thing'. The contest, of course, generated a lot of backlash.

Audi

40 Innovators and Thought Leaders Who Need to Sit in Time Out and Thought-Lead About What They’ve Done

HyperSocial CEO

People are ripping into the CEO that posted a crying selfie on LinkedIn. CRACKED.COM Braden Wallake, the CEO of a company specializing in opti- mizing LinkedIn posts, post- ed the blubbering photo on a post discussing layoffs in his company. Here's how to op- timize this particular post: Delete it.

Microsoft

40 Innovators and Thought Leaders Who Need to Sit in Time Out and Thought-Lead About What They’ve Done

Atari CEO Ray Kassar

In 1979, programmers working for Atari met with the CEO and demanded the company treat them more like musicians, with access to royalties & credit on packaging. Natural - as - - OIG DOG zero NTED HOUSE The CEO refused, stating that anyone can do a cartridge. The programmers left and started Activision. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

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LifeLock CEO Todd Davis

Eager to promote confidence in his company's identity theft protection services, the CEO of LifeLock used his actual Social Security number in an adve

Clearlink CEO

CRACKED CEO PRAISES EMPLOYEE FOR SACRIFICING THEIR PET FOR THE OFFICE. James Clarke, the CEO of Clearlink, had a meeting with the staff where he praised a worker who had to give away their pet dog because the company was making them come back to the office. God bless America, or something.

‘Papa’ John Schnatter

The former CEO of Papa John's is working to get rid of the N-word in his vocabulary. John Schnatter resigned as CEO for using the N-word on a conference call in 2018. One of his goals since then, he says, has been to get rid of this N-word in my

Source: WFLA

Blockbuster CFO Barry McCarthy

The Blockbuster CEO laughed at Netflix's CEO when he tried to form a partnership in 2000. BLOCKBUSTER BLOCKBUSTER CLEARANCE SALE - SOON CRACKED COM Netflix co-founder and CEO Reed Hastings suggested Blockbuster run the Netflix brand in stores and Netflix would run theirs online. CFO Barry McCarthy says they just about laughed us out of their office.

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Herman Miller CEO

CRACKED BEING ASKED BY EMPLOYEES ABOUT WHETHER THEY'LL GET A BONUS Andi Owen, the CEO of a high-end office furniture company, totally lost it when some of her employees asked about staying motivated if they don't get annual bonuses. Even though she makes a $4.9 million salary, she told them to leave Pity City.

Red Lobster

A Red Lobster president lost her job after creating an endless crab promotion. Red Lobster Edna Morris tried to boost profits with a $22.99 din- ner promotion, but instead lost millions by bungling her calculations on how many times patrons would refill their plates with pric- ey crab. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW

LeBron James and Pitbull

LeBron and Pitbull were the spokesmen for performance-enhancing caffeine strips. As the idols of millions of youngsters, you'd think Lebron James and

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