45 Big Brand Fails and Hilariously Godawful Ad Campaigns

These were way off the mark!
45 Big Brand Fails and Hilariously Godawful Ad Campaigns

Racism and sexism were definitely on the menu in some of these boardrooms. Others weren’t guilty of those offenses, but their shortsightedness in promotions and translations made for some pretty hilarious gaffes. Either way, they all probably cost some people their jobs.

Just ask Schweppes about their toilet water. Sorry, tonic water. You’ll see.

Pepsi and Black Lives Matter

Pepsi commercializes Black Lives Matter PEPSI CRACKED.COM In the 2017 commercial, millionaire Kendall Jenner walks through a crowd of protestors to give a can of soda to a cop, and everyone cheers as systemic inequality is solved!

McDonald’s Japan

M U NAGGA RUSSIAN 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

Doritos

CRACKED DORITOS' CHIPPY Doritos has released a new movie and campaign featuring Chippy, a comedian with a unique twist, to get Gen Zs to take action on their mental health. That's exactly what we wanted from our chips: mental health awareness.

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 car has a high quality body, but it was carelessly mistranslated into Every car has a high-quality corpse. CRACKED.COM

EA

In 2009, EA shipped brass knuckles along with their upcoming game, The Godfather II to press members for promotional purposes. They soon learned The that the knuckles Godfatherll are classified as illegal weapons in many states, including California, where EA is based. - LA PLAYSTATION 3 M EA It's against the law to be in possession of them, and it is also illegal to ship them. They had to plead with the recipients to send the knuckles back. The game received abyssmal reviews and prompted EA to let go of the franchise. CRACKED COM

Perdue

Frank Perdue often appeared in his Perdue ads with the tag line, It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken. PERDUE. Unfortunately, his love for chicken was terribly misconstrued when a Spanish ad read It takes a sexually stimulated man to make a chicken affectionate. CRACKED.COM

Kim Kardashian

Kim Kardashian spammed social media with useless diet lollipops. Marketing sugar-filled lollipops with unproven secret ingredients as a weight loss tool may seem incongruous, but what's even less rational is posting an Instagram advertisement for such a product during Mental Health Awareness Week. kimkardashian Follow kimkardashian #ad You guys... FLATTUMMY @flattummyco just dropped a new LOLLIPOPS product. They're Appetite Suppressant LO Lollipops and they're literally unreal. Apparite Suppression They're giving the first 500 people on their website 15% OFF so if you want to get your hands on some... you need to do it quick! #suckit Load more comments Which

Colgate

When Colgate decided to sell toothpaste in France, they gave it a name that should've come with a parental advisory. Colgate Their Cue toothpaste shared its name-which means ass- with a magazine that possibly documented other, um, oral-related matters. It was a porno mag. CRACKED.COM

TV Guide

GRAGKED.COM in A 1970 AD in TV GUIDE sonny AND CHeR enDORSED THE BIBLE. - - Chen - - Look who reads the Bible. The people who make And if you don't have a music today read the Bible It's Bible of your own we'll send that kind of book It can make you one for only a dollar. Hard cover and everything Just things work for you Read the Bible Find out where all the one should do it The Bible lasts a long time music's coming from one PASSAGE in THE BIZARRE AD SAYS READ THE BIBLE. FIND OUT

Popchips

CRACKED.COM In 2012 popchips released a commercial starring Ashton Kutcher in brownface. Не played a Bollywood producer named Raj, complete with a mock Indian accent. The ad was quickly pulled after it caused an online outcry.

Stephen Hawking

45 Big Brand Fails and Hilariously Godawful Ad Campaigns

Jamie Oliver

S. - - - 1 Oliver Mediterstore - Jamie Oliver, a well-known advocate for fresh and healthy food, did a commercial for Sadia, a company that sells frozen meat products. CRACKED.COM

Iron Man 3

Panic ensued when a Missouri movie theater hired fake agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., complete with fake weapons, to storm a screening of IRON MAN 3... CRACKED COM less than a year after the theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado.

Audi

45 Big Brand Fails and Hilariously Godawful Ad Campaigns

Molson

Canadian brewing company Molson had college kids post party pictures on Facebook to promote their brand... - CANADIA MOLSON Lite Coors FINE - FILSNER 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

Snapchat

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? Impossible Chocolat WOULD YOU RATHER! Slap Rihanna Punch Chris Brown Many users deleted the app following her response. CRACKED.COM

Pepsi China

While expanding into China, Pepsi unknowingly made a creepy promise to consumers in the form of biblical miracles. PLPS MARK TRADE The company's popular tag line, Come alive with the Pepsi Generation was interpreted as Pepsi will bring your ancestors back from the dead. CRACKED.COM

Schweppes

Schweppes sold their Tonic Water in Italy without realizing that no self-respecting person would dare to drink it. INDIAN I THE Schweppes TONIC WATER The problem wasn't with the drink itself, but with the name Schweppes Tonic Water, which translated to Italian as Schweppes Toilet Water. CRACKED.COM

Braniff International

In 1987, Braniff international released an ad that was easily confused for an open invitation into the mile-high club. BI BRADIFF INTERNATIONAL BRANIFF 00000000 The airline company was trying to entice travelers with its leather seats when a mixup of Spanish homophones turned its Fly in leather tag line into Fly naked. CRACKED.COM

KFC

When KFC first moved to China, it must have curbed appetites by accidentally promoting self-cannibalism. KFC REAL In an attempt to translate their signature catchphrase Finger- lickin' good, some misused Chinese characters had them saying, Eat your fingers off. CRACKED.COM

Coors

Coors accidentally marketed beer to their Spanish-speaking customers with the promise that they'd run to the toilet. THE ORIGINA LONGNECKS 12 FL.OZ. bors I BOCKY ة GOLDEN The brewing company translated .... - . - - Bumpoor Design - - Swere INTERNATION their English catchphrase, Turn it NATURAL FF WATER loose, without realizing that it means Suffer from diarrhea in Spanish. CRACKED.COM

Paxan

The soaps produced by Iranian company Paxan Co. ironically carry a name that labels them as packaged filth. New - Automatic Color - - I and - - Barf Powder - ... 1 Detergent Powe - - - a in Barf New Automatic Barf Automatic - Detergent America 10g Dasting Ultimate Clee Brigh - 900g - HAIR English Address 450g In an effort to translate a Farsi word that should mean Snow into English, the company somehow messed up, resulting in the sale of Barf soap. CRACKED.COM

Mountain Dew

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

Pepsi

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

McDonald’s

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 .

Pokemon

CRACKED #pokemonmastersex Pokémon Masters EX did use capitals in their original #PokemonMastersEX, but that didn't stop immature (and hilarious) fans from using it without the caps, or switching up the caps to #PokemonMasterSex.

PowerGen

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

RIM

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

Coors

Coors LIGHT Ice Cube did a series of ill-advised commercials for Coors Light. The campaign was based around the hilarious premise that containers of Coors Light thought they were colder than Ice Cube, confusing rap and beer fans alike. GRAGKED.COM

Louis Vuitton

Angelina Jolie advertised a £7,000 Louis Vuitton bag while sitting in a swamp. In Cambodia. CRACKED.COM

Burger King

In 2012, Mary J. Blige stood on top of a table and sang about Burger King Crispy Chicken Wraps. BURGER KING She later apologized for making the commercial, and admitted that it was a mistake. CRACKED.COM

Vince Neil

45 Big Brand Fails and Hilariously Godawful Ad Campaigns

Taco Bell

45 Big Brand Fails and Hilariously Godawful Ad Campaigns

George Clooney

45 Big Brand Fails and Hilariously Godawful Ad Campaigns

Facebook

portal from facebook QUEELE Requires wireless internet connection and Facebook or WhatsApp account. THE MUPPETS TAUGHT US TO COUNT. SADLY, THEY'RE NOW TEACHING US TO LET FACEBOOK INVADE OUR PRIVACY. CRACKED COM

Direct Line

Using Winston Wolfe from Pulp Fiction to sell insurance should be breaking some kind of law. But that's just what Direct Line did in a series of TV ads. I sell insurance doesn't quite have the same ring as I solve problems. CRACKED.COM

Mother’s Brewing Co.

Brad Pitt's brother, Doug Pitt, helped recreate Se7en's ending in an ad for Mother's Brewing Co. - THE HOP - SPECIAL SPECIAL MOTHERS and RELEASE RELEASE - TERMI It's complete with sanitized lines like Tell me what's in the flippin' box! and I'm trying to tell you how much I admire you... and your delicious beer. CRACKED.COM

Carl’s Jr.

Carl's Jr. gets X-Men's Mystique to promote their X-Tra Bacon Thickburger. MAN UP The burger is so manly she has to turn into a man to enjoy it. CRACKED COM

World of Warcraft

At some point, the world's biggest WORLD video game got WARCRAFT desperate enough to seek endorsement from Chuck Norris in an ad made of his already dying memes. CRACKED COM

BMW

Kermit is supposed to be a chill and friendly frog. It's very uncomfortable seeing him in a BMW commercial driving dangerously and getting road rage. CRACKED.COM

Schick

Schick used Neon Genesis Evangelion characters to shill their razors in Japan. NE RV nick x - Because nothing communicates close shave better than psychologically damaged characters from a depressing anime. CRACKED.COM

Wendy’s

The 2006 adaptation of Charlotte's Web released a series of Wendy's Kids' Meals promotional toys. WENDY'S tide Charlottes Medy Web LIMITED EDITION WILBUR COLLECTOR/FIGURINE Apparently they thought the best way to advertise a movie about a pig's desire to not be eaten was with a restaurant that serves bacon burgers. CRACKED.COM

Wonder Woman

Buy $15 of miniTTain Protein Pars Get $5 towards One Movie Ticket to WONDER WOMBER YOKAS 2015 WOMAN WAS de to con THE FACE OF - 1 ... THINKTHIN thinkThin PROTEIN - - : T - BARS. thinkThin That's right, the image - 1 of a strong, powerful, - feminist superhero thinkThin was used to sell - Thank ... Yogu snacks to help W - - 335 women lose weight. - NOMBER VIVI 20 Meanwhile Batman I - - and Superman | appeared on the cover - IL of Muscle & Fitness. CRACKED.COM 1

The Arch Deluxe

In 1996, McDonalds tried to go gourmet with the Arch Deluxe. Despite spending $100 million on advertising and twice that on testing, it was a complete flop. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

Amazon

Amazon needed a way to promote its new series. They went with Nazi symbols on the subway. The series was called The Man In The High Castle and worked on the premise that America had lost WWII. So Amazon just thought they'd decorate New York subway seats with the symbols of Nazi Germany and Imperialist Japan. Amazon pulled the signage after Mayor Bill de Blasio called it irresponsible and offensive. CRACKED.COM http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/amazon-pulls-nazi-tv-ad- campaign-new-york-the-man-in-the-high-castle-irresponsible-and-offensive-6747901.html

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