Halloween is just a few short days away! In the spirit of all things spooky I thought I’d share some advertising horror stories. Beware these tales are sure to cause cringe, may also induce laughing and are not for the faint of heart. Also on a slightly more serious note, I’m not going to name names of the brands involved. I mean if you’re really determined you can find out for yourself but enough of that! On to the spooky stories!
Thin and Gorgeous
The year was 2018 and one spring morning a well-known fashion brand, (let’s call them Sweet & Creative), took to Instagram to show off their latest design of shoe. While the shoe was sparkly, garish and had the general look that it was designed by a toddler, those weren’t the problem. The post summoned the Social Media Grim Reaper. The shoes had the slogan “thin and gorgeous” displayed prominently on it. This obviously played into negative body image stereotypes and that it linked a woman’s beauty to her waist size.
When the commenters pointed this out one of the founders of Sweet & Creative started calling them Fat and Stupid. This was the worst possible response to that situation! Since it made the brand seem out of touch and played into the very thing they were being accused of.
The take away from this story is that when you’re a brand like Sweet & Creative your image is important. Maybe in future
- Think about how an item may be received by the general public.
- Be prepared with responses to said item.
- Get management training on how to conduct oneself on social media.
Donut Holes
Many years ago (4 to be exact) the world lost a famous movie star who was famed for playing a princess in a Sci-Fi movie. In the film the actress donned an iconic bun shaped hairdo that over the course of her life she grew to despise. As with many companies the folks at Donut Holes decided to post a picture to their social media to convey their condolences. The problem here is that they decided to create a stylised image of her using sugar to draw her face and then donuts to replace the buns. The result is that it looked like an endorsement and that they were cashing in on her untimely death. Not only that, they had used the same image the previous May as part of a promotional campaign.
The take away here is:
- If you’re going to convey sympathies keep it simple.
- While an image may be on brand keep it respectful.
Halloween-(which)
Our final story will be staying in the season, and shares themes from the last two stories. A tradition of the Halloween season is that folks get dressed up as monsters, ghouls or other things in pop culture. One year a well-known sandwich brand put out an ad on TV in which it told woman to keep off the fatty foods so they could get into their costumes. The person delivering this message was a woman dressed as skimpy devil talking to her male colleague! Understandably people were upset and the ad was pulled from the airwaves. The company’s response to the whole thing was “It was a joke bro” which is quite possibly one of the worst ways they could have handled it.
The things to take away from this story?
- DON’T OBJECTIFY WOMAN! It makes you seem old fashioned and not inclusive
- Own up to your mistake, explain that it wasn’t a well thought out joke
- Maybe run the idea by a few people outside of your work group and get their response
And there we have it. Three spooky tales to shock and make you cringe. Next time you’re planning an ad campaign or a post have a think back to these examples so you know what not to do! Stay safe out there this Halloween folks!
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