Vibrator Brand Wants People to Take Pictures of Bikini-Clad Bree Olsen on Truck Sides While Driving

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Let's just get right into it and start with this:

"We are incredibly excited about the opportunity to bring Adam & Eve to the public this way. We are encouraging drivers who run across our trucks along I85, I95, I75 and I77 to send us pictures (via twitter @adamandeve and Facebook) of the trucks to track their effectiveness and possibly win prizes."

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by Steve Hall    Feb- 5-15    
Topic: Racy, Worst



The Execution of This Yamaha R1 Ad Concept Is So Painfully Bad It's Akin to Shoving A Bowling Ball Through One's Urethra

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We suppose an apology is in order for what we are about to say. Why? Well, because despite the fact we have gleefully skewered bad advertising since 2001, we also realize that there are actual, caring human being involved in the creation of good and bad advertising.

So let's be clear, this -- as it always has been -- is critique of the work, not the people behind it. OK?

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by Steve Hall    Nov-13-14    
Topic: Worst



This Dewar's 'Live True' Profile With Zio Ziegler Is Excruciatingly Painful to Watch

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If you're a marketer and you're going to do a thing where you highlight an artist or a musician or an actor in a way that supposed to come off as natural and un-staged then for God's sake, don't make it look painfully unnatural and completely staged like this work Dewar's did with San Francisco mural artist Zio Ziegler for it's Live True campaign.

So Zio walks into a bar. Which is empty. The bartender says, "Dewar's" and Ziegler replies, sure, like it's the only thing in the world anyone drinks. Ziegler proceeds to uneasily pontificate about what it's like to be an artist -- you know, the same babble that spews forth from every artist's mouth about how they found themselves and are pursuing their passion and and following their dream and blah, blah, blah.

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by Steve Hall    Oct-31-14    
Topic: Worst



Job Network's Malaysian Airlines Newsjacking Goes Horribly Wrong

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This one will go down as one of the worst examples of newsjacking since newsjacking was invented. Or, maybe since anything was invented. The idiocy is simply incomprehensible. TeamWork Online, some kind of sports industry job network, thought it might be a good idea to riff off the Malaysian Airlines flight 370 disappearance.

For it's weekly Coaching Tip, the site wrote, "Malaysian Airlines 370 has vanished. Do you feel like employers can't find you? Let's get your 'black box' engaged. Let's start the 'pings.' 'Here are some tips on how to get noticed in a very crowded job market' says Buffy Filippell, TeamWork Online Founder."

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by Steve Hall    Mar-20-14    
Topic: Worst



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Two Huge Mistakes to Avoid When Creating A Brand Video

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We've watched this video three times and still don't know what we're being sold. We're not quite sure what it is but something must be distracting us from the video's main message.

Apparently, we're not alone. Pretty much every YouTube commenter has no idea what the video's about either.

Attention brands. No disrespect to anyone but be careful who you cast as your spokesperson...and how you dress them. You may not get the results you expected.

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by Steve Hall    Dec- 9-13    
Topic: Racy, Video, Worst



The Dumbest Car Cover Ad You Will Ever See

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Yes, it's dumb. But somehow it almost manages to be funny. In the style of the late night infomercial, this EmpireCovers ad pulls out all the cheesy stops. Cheesy dialog. Cheesy sound effects. Cheesy lighting. Cheesy acting.

Go ahead. Give it a watch. It will make you feel much better about what you're working on right at this moment.

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by Steve Hall    Oct-21-13    
Topic: Best, Strange, Worst



30-Year-Old Men Play Stupid High School Tricks on Drunk Friends

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It's a forgone conclusion that men are idiots, right? Think of it this way. If an alien ship were to orbit the planet and take a look at the plethora of beer commercials floating around the interwebs, they could only come to one conclusion. Men, when consuming -- or even just thinking about consuming -- beer, are blithering buffoons who have no socially redeeming qualities.

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by Steve Hall    Oct- 9-13    
Topic: Commercials, Worst



Coke Apologizes For 'You Retard' Bottle Cap Promotion

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Coca-Cola is in a bit of hot water over a bilingual promotion in Canada which resulted in "You Retard" being printed on Vitaminwater bottle caps. The bottle cap was found by Blake Loates whose sister, Fiona, has cerebral palsy. Fiona's father, Doug Loates was angered and wrote a scathing letter to Coke.

In the letter, Loates wrote in part,"The R-word is considered a swear word in our family. What would YOU do if you opened up your bottle of Vitamin Water and on the bottom of the lid it read, 'YOU RETARD? I bet you'd be pissed if you had a Fiona in your life! ... Can you imagine if SHE [Fiona] had opened this bottle???"

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by Steve Hall    Sep-20-13    
Topic: Brands, Worst



Kenneth Cole Doesn't Want Our Marketing Advice

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It's clear Kenneth Cole doesn't give a crap about what pundits, the media or his customers think about his attempts to leverage major news events to his brand's advantage. Just today, after having been lambasted for a tweet about Cairo (and plenty of other similarly stupid tweets), Cole, who runs his own Twitter account, tweeted, "Boots on the ground" or not. Let's not forget sandals, pumps and loafers. #Footwear"

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by Steve Hall    Sep- 5-13    
Topic: Brands, Social, Worst



Son Buys Promoted Tweet to Complain About British Airways After Airline Lost His Father's Luggage

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This, quite possibly, might be a first. We're all used to brand after brand after brand mucking up our Twitter feed with promoted tweets. But have you ever seen an individual purchase a promoted tweet to better guarantee his complaint won't go unnoticed?

After British Airways lost his father's luggage, Husan Syed took to Twitter to complain. But rather than simply tweet a rant as most do, Syed bought a promoted tweet in New York and UK markets Monday night which aviation marketing consultancy SimplyFlying said garnered 25,000 tweets in the first six hours.

The tweet read, "Don't fly @BritishAirways. Their customer service is horrendous."

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by Steve Hall    Sep- 3-13    
Topic: Brands, Social, Worst