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30 Times Large Corporations Made Baffling Decisions

August 30, 2023

In today’s society, it seems like large, multinational corporations are making more baffling decisions than ever before. From Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer’s decision to ban remote work to the Coca-Cola Company’s introduction of a new product called “Coke Life,” these big companies just can’t seem to get it right. Here are 30 times in particular when large corporations made a completely baffling decision…

30

Hooters used to operate an airline. SOL UTH MYP 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: 15 Bizarre Facts About Famous, Giant Companies

29

Southwest Airlines sorted out a dispute with a rival company in the wrestling ring. LONDRA Southwest and Stevens Aviation couldn't agree on which one of the two would get to use the slogan Just Plane Smart, so they arranged an arm wrestling. Southwest lost, but Stevens Aviation agreed to share the slogan, and both companies donated to each others' charities. CRACKED.COM — Source: 15 Bizarre Facts About Famous, Giant Companies

28

Whole Foods used to sell food made with prison labor. the Snowdrop - г Haystack Mountain goat cheese, sold at Whole Foods, was made by inmates and the company sold it for nearly a decade -- they stopped only when a prison reform activist wrote to the CEO. CRACKED.COM — Source: 15 Bizarre Facts About Famous, Giant Companies

27

Sega

In the '90s, Sega got a gift of $700 million from its president. Не gave all his Sega shares back to the company - for unclear reasons. CRACKED.COM — Source: 15 Bizarre Facts About Famous, Giant Companies

26

The Hershey ice cream and chocolate companies are totally unrelated. HERSHEY'S HEY ROSIS HERSHEY'S FELECTA HERSH Reese's SELECTA Milk Che - - HERSHEY'S - - الصحيفة - 800mL I 800mL = HERSH COLATE HERSHEY'S SELECTA H SELECTA Milk Chocolate-Almonds K - - ب - .. - - HERSHEY'S - en 800ml 800mL They were both founded in Pennsylvania in 1894, but that's where the connection ends. CRACKED.COM — Source: 15 Bizarre Facts About Famous, Giant Companies

25

Hasbro is the owner of Death Row Records. DEATH ROW RECORDS They bought the company on December 30, 2019, which means the people who own the rights to My Little Pony now also own the rights to the albums of Tupac Shakur, Dr. Dre, and more. CRACKED.COM — Source: 15 Bizarre Facts About Famous, Giant Companies

24

Quaker Oats fed kids radioactive oatmeal in the '40s and '50s. O SPRINTALLY That's according to a class action lawsuit from 1995 - apparently, Quaker Oats and MIT gave students at the Fernald State School oatmeal with radioactive iron and calcium. Quaker Oats and MIT settled out of court for $1.85 million. CRACKED.COM — Source: 15 Bizarre Facts About Famous, Giant Companies

23

Coca-Cola makes money selling syrup to bottling companies. JOOTH OOJ The bottling companies then sell the syrup to retailers, and Coca-Cola gets a cut of that sale. CRACKED.COM — Source: 15 Bizarre Facts About Famous, Giant Companies

22

Samsung built the world's tallest building. They spent 11 months bidding for the contract to build Dubai's Burj Khalifa in 2004, and won, with a price tag of $306 million. CRACKED.COM — Source: 15 Bizarre Facts About Famous, Giant Companies

21

When Microsoft was developing ХВох, they tried to buy Nintendo. Microsoft They were trying to buy developers for the upcoming console, and that included Nintendo, but Nintendo wasn't having any of it. They just laughed their asses off, a Microsoft director said. Like, imagine an hour of somebody just laughing at you. CRACKED.COM — Source: 15 Bizarre Facts About Famous, Giant Companies

20

You can't buy Jack Daniels in stores in the area where it's made. The distillery is in Moore County, which is a dry county. CRACKED.COM — Source: 15 Bizarre Facts About Famous, Giant Companies

19

Audio equipment company Bose is owned by MIT. BOSE Better sound through research® It was founded by MIT alum Amar Bose, and he gave MIT the majority of the stock in 2011. CRACKED.COM — Source: 15 Bizarre Facts About Famous, Giant Companies

18

Chuck E. Cheese's was supposed to be called Rick Rat's Pizza. The mascot was supposed to be a coyote, and founder Nolan Bushnell ordered a coyote costume, but he got a rat costume instead. So he said he'd just call his company Rick Rat's Pizza, but his marketing department was really against that idea - so they ended up giving the mascot a name. CRACKED.COM — Source: 15 Bizarre Facts About Famous, Giant Companies

17

Kodak used a 13-month calendar from 1928 to 1989. Feb \ 234567 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Mar 2 3 4 5 6 7 & 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Apr 1 2 3 4 S 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 May 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 — Source: 15 Bizarre Facts About Famous, Giant Companies

16

M&Ms were a purely military product in WWII. m m m w لل 1 m m n happy Ш W m m w Ш Ш m w m They were sold only to the military - being heat-resistant and easy to transport, they were really well suited to being part of soldiers' rations. CRACKED.COM — Source: 15 Bizarre Facts About Famous, Giant Companies

15

Pepsi

While expanding into China, Pepsi unknowingly made a creepy promise to consumers in the form of biblical miracles. TRADE PEPSI MARK 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 — Source: 15 Bizarre Brand Name Blunders

14

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 — Source: 15 Bizarre Brand Name Blunders

13

Schweppes sold their Tonic Water in Italy without realizing that no self-respecting person would dare to drink it. INDIAN I 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 — Source: 15 Bizarre Brand Name Blunders

12

In 1987, Braniff international released an ad that was easily confused for an open invitation into the mile-high club. BI TAK BRANIFF INTERNATIONAL BRANIFF 00000000000 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 — Source: 15 Bizarre Brand Name Blunders

11

When KFC first moved to China, it must have curbed appetites by accidentally promoting self-cannibalism. KFC the adidas 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 — Source: 15 Bizarre Brand Name Blunders

10

Coors accidentally marketed beer to their Spanish-speaking customers with the promise that they'd run to the toilet. THE ORIGINA LONGNECKS 12 Coog FL.OZ. il GOLDEN I BOCKY .... save The brewing company translated - - . - canada - - - Bampoor NATURAL NTAIN WATER FF their English catchphrase, Turn it loose, without realizing that it means Suffer from diarrhea in Spanish. CRACKED.COM — Source: 15 Bizarre Brand Name Blunders

9

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 — Source: 15 Bizarre Brand Name Blunders

8

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 — Source: 15 Bizarre Brand Name Blunders

7

Source: 15 Bizarre Brand Name Blunders

6

During 2016's Chinese New Year, Nike offended its Chinese customers with special-edition Air Force 1 shoes. 78 NIKEiD They had printed Fa on one shoe and Fu on the other (in Chinese). These two words are blessings when separated but they mean Get fat when used together. CRACKED.COM — Source: 15 Bizarre Brand Name Blunders

5

The soaps produced by Iranian company Paxan Co. ironically carry a name that labels them as packaged filth. New Automatic Color - I I - Bust New - - Bar - - - ... Detergent Powe S Barf Automatic Barf Automatic Powder Organic - - - . Detergent Awair State Saving colors Ultimate Clea Brigh E 900 g 1991 a Enghi Station 450 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 — Source: 15 Bizarre Brand Name Blunders

4

Lost in Translation

The American Dairy Association's Got milk? campaign was such a hit that they decided to go international with it. YOUR MILK COMES FROM A GOOD PLACE AMERICAN DAIRY ASSOCIATION NORTH EAST The Spanish version was quickly discontinued, though, when they realized they'd been asking their audience the intrusive question, Are you lactating? CRACKED.COM — Source: 15 Bizarre Brand Name Blunders

3

Ford took its Pinto model over to Brazil without knowing it announced a trait that many would rather keep hidden. Ford You see, the word Pinto might have sounded just fine to English- speaking buyers, but when translated to Brazilian-Portuguese, it means Small penis. CRACKED.COM — Source: 15 Bizarre Brand Name Blunders

2

Parker Pen was trying hard to avoid embarrassing their Mexican clients when they ended up embarrassing themselves. P PARKER EST. 1888 HAND They wrongly converted their slogan, It won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you, into Spanish as, It won't leak in your pocket and make you pregnant. CRACKED.COM — Source: 15 Bizarre Brand Name Blunders

1

Clairol introduced their curling iron to the German market by describing it, literally, as a hot pile of cow dung. 9 LIGHT BLONDE BLOND CLAIR CLAIROL NEW NO YORK AMMONIA, ce ADDED PARABENS HEALTHY LOOKING The product was sold under its English name Mist Stick but the company didn't do enough research to realize that mist in German means manure. CRACKED.COM — Source: 15 Bizarre Brand Name Blunders

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