We've all heard a marketing campaign at some point and thought, "that is just stupid," but most bad advertising strategies just result in a few less sales than a successful campaign would have brought in. Sometimes though, a company will run a campaign that's so idiotic that the company ends up losing thousands, if not millions of dollars. Take, for example, the Silo marketing campaign that said customers could get a new stereo for only "299 bananas." When customers started actually showing up with bundles of bananas, the store had no choice but to give them stereos in exchange for fruit.
The saddest part? Silo couldn't even get rid of the bananas (they had thousands of them sitting there, presumably attracting fruit flies), as the local zoos stopped taking them and the food bank didn't take perishables.
Be warned of some NSFW language, but don't let yourself avoid the article over bad words if you can help it.
Link I'd add the "Where's Waldo" fiasco at Burger King. Kids bugging every guy who remotely looked like the character, and a lawsuit when an underage kid actually saw the "real" one. Probably another great idea hatched after a three martini lunch.
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The Hoover Vaccuum Cleaner promotion is my favorite. Not a lot of math geniuses involved in that one.
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Sigh.. "Hiring Stan Freberg to run your marketing campaign! What an idiotic idea!!" Freberg was an advertising genius who won numerous awards. Americans have the historical sense of gnats.
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A 'few less sales'? Really?
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