“There’s no such thing as bad publicity.”
We’ve all heard this phrase before, so it might surprise you to learn that it doesn’t have a concrete origin. Many attribute it to 19th-century circus owner and self-publicist Phineas T. Barnum, but the thing is…it’s reported to be a bastardization of what Barnum really thinks.
Apparently, he actually said, “all publicity is good if it is intelligent”. That’s right. The comment has been entirely misconstrued—and as the following marketing campaigns prove, not all publicity is good publicity.
1. North Face Defaces Wikipedia
Someone at North Face thought going against Wikipedia’s terms and conditions was a brilliant marketing idea. They replaced images of popular outdoor destinations with ones that feature people wearing North Face apparel, a move that got the brand to the top of Google Image search results. But then they proceeded to brag about it by releasing a video that detailed the steps they took to “hack” the encyclopedia site’s system. Needless to say, Wikipedia editors and the public weren’t happy about it.
C’mon, North Face—even kids know cheating sucks.
2. Viewers Said “I Don’t” to Ancestry
Ancestry.ca, the Canadian branch of Ancestry.com, produced and aired an ad that follows the story of a white man proposing to a black woman—and then suggesting they run away to the north to be together. The whole thing comes across as if it’s romanticizing slavery, and had viewers questioning both the brand and the advertising agency that came up with it: “One of the most troubling things about this is that Ancestry (and/or their agency) probably think this ad is ‘celebrating diversity’” was just one of many Tweets that surfaced online afterwards.
Romanticized or not, slavery sucks.
3. Fool Us Once, Dove…
Dove has—not once, but twice—used ad verbiage and imagery that implies lighter skin is preferable to darker skin. Okay…that’s putting it nicely. Dove has actually, a) depicted a black woman becoming a white woman after using their product, and b) shown a spectrum with darker skin tones labelled as “before” and lighter skin tones labelled as “after”. Dove was rightfully dragged for both.
Racism sucks, right Dove? RIGHT!?
4. A Bungled Ad Like No Other
Peloton, the stationary exercise bike that has taken the fitness world by storm, tried to advertise that it was the perfect thing for a man to gift to his female partner for the holidays. The commercial has since been described as “dystopian”, “sexist”, and “like a Black Mirror episode”. Whatever you call it, it lost Peloton over $1.5 billion in value after it aired.
Doesn’t Peloton know that sexism sucks?
5. Up for Whatever? The Dud Bud Ad
A 2014 Bud Light Superbowl commercial asked audiences, “Are you up for whatever?” The question seems tame…except the brand followed up with bottle labels sporting the slogan, “The perfect beer for removing ‘no’ from your vocabulary for the night”. Sound a little problematic? Yeah, audiences thought so too, and the ad was widely criticized.
Rape culture sucks—and so does this ad.
6. Avon Versus Cellulite—and Jameela Jamil
Ads from personal care brand Avon tend to be body positive: “Every body is beautiful,” reads one. However, that same ad goes on to shame cellulite—something that almost all women will have in their lifetime. It’s normal! Actress Jameela Jamil agrees and called the brand out in a Tweet, which was shared more than 12,000 times. (but has since been removed). Avon eventually pulled the campaign and apologized, but that doesn’t erase the fact that it happened.
If you’re going to support body positivity, remember to make it known that you think body shaming sucks.
7. Happy Holidays and Have a Spiked Drink
Bloomingdale’s launched a holiday ad back in 2015 that read…okay…brace yourself: “Spike your best friend’s eggnog when they’re not looking”. There are truly no words to express how problematic this is. Apparently intoxicating people without their consent is on-brand for the luxury department store? Gross. They were shamed for it and ended up apologizing.
Umm…hasn’t anyone ever told you that spiking other peoples’ drinks sucks?
The Takeaway
Most of this probably comes as no surprise. After all, we’ve already mentioned the disastrous consequences of the Kendall Jenner Pepsi ad and McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish commercial. Sometimes these creative campaigns pay off, and sometimes they don’t. Like Phineas T. Barnum said about trying to get publicity, just please be smart about it.
Bad press really sucks—especially since it often has the consequence of tearing down a brand’s reputation. Read more about reputation management and find out how you can control your online narrative with a .SUCKS domain.
Photo Credits: WAYHOME studio / Shutterstock