Marketing teams today have so many opportunities for slip-ups. They need to create video for both TV and web, they are expected to craft a social media image for their brand and respond to what sometimes can be an onslaught of criticism on the forums, all the while creating yearly campaigns across print, digital and TV. It's an exhausting job, sure, but there are just some slip-ups that are totally avoidable.
Here are our picks for the most cringe-worthy marketing slip-ups of 2014:
DiGiornos
If ever there was a time to check what a trending topic meant, it was when DiGiornos attempted to jump in on the #WhyIStayed hashtag. After footage surfaced of Baltimore Ravens player Ray Rice punching--and knocking out--his then-finance in an elevator, the Twittersphere was sent ablaze with women coming forward with their domestic violence stories. #WhyIStayed was created for women to shed light on why they stayed with their abusive partner. So, naturally, DiGiornos jumped in and tweeted '#WhyIStayed You had pizza.' Yikes. They were quick to apologize and claimed to not know what the trending topic was really about. Brands get hacked all the time and encounter embarrassing incidents on social media, but this was likely the most preventable, rookie Twitter mistake of the year.
We heard from many of you, and we know we disappointed you. We understand, and we apologize to everyone for this mistake.
— DiGiorno Pizza (@DiGiornoPizza) September 9, 2014
Bud Light
There are some ideas that just sound better in the meeting room. This was the case with Bud Light and its 'WhateverUSA' promotion. The idea was to take over a town, rename it 'Whatever' for a weekend, where literally 'whatever' was possible. So contest winners were flown out to Crested Butte, CO for a weekend in September, and a weekend of partying and 'whatever' went pretty well...until contest winners had to go home. Security issues at the tiny airport caused hours of delays and many people missed connecting flights. Soon, the #WhateverUSA hashtag that winners were using throughout the weekend turned into a sounding board for disgruntled travelers. So it appears that people sometimes are up for whatever, except for poorly planned traveling logistics.
Urban Outfitters
This clothing chain can't seem to stay out of trouble. It's told customers to eat less, to be punk as f**k, and even evoked the Holocaust with a Jewish star shirt. Despite all that, Urban Outfitters managed to cause more rage in 2014 with what the store insisted was just a 'vintage' sweatshirt. The article of clothing in question was from Kent State University, that appeared to have bloodstains across the front. Given the Kent State massacres in 1970 that killed four students and triggered a mass student protest across American universities, a bloodied shirt evoking the school didn't sit well with many. The chain immediately apologized, stating "it was never our intention to allude to the tragic events that took place at Kent State in 1970." Here's to 2015 being a controversy-free year for Urban Outfitters.
Urban Outfitters sincerely apologizes for any offense our Vintage Kent State Sweatshirt may have caused. It (cont) http://t.co/o3oKyPJFu8
— Urban Outfitters (@UrbanOutfitters) September 15, 2014
Victoria's Secret
Over the years, the lingerie brand has already received raised eyebrows for promoting an unrealistic body image, but it really hit a nerve with a 2014 campaign. This fall, Victoria's Secret rolled out an ad campaign featuring 10 different styles of bras with the tagline 'The Perfect Body,' featuring models who all had very skinny, very unachievable-for-almost-anyone frames. To fight the idea that these models were the image of 'The Perfect Body,' a petition on Change.org gathered thousands of signatures before Victoria's Secret finally changed the ad tagline. While the retailer never commented on the backlash, the campaign phased out 'The Perfect Body' tagline with 'A Body for Every Body.'
The Victoria's Secret "The Perfect Body" campaign makes me wanna throw up. Their idea of a "perfect" body is unrealistic. #iamperfect
— tina✭belcher (@Emily_Stikeman) October 30, 2014
Apple/U2
Who knows what Tim Cook and the rest of the Apple team was thinking when they enlisted U2 to reinvigorate enthusiasm for iTunes. During the Apple keynote address this year, where CEO Tim Cook introduced the iPhone 6, Apple Pay, and Apple Watch, he also announced that U2 would be releasing their new album Songs of Innocence on iTunes first....for free. That meant everyone using iTunes would get U2's album preloaded in their music library, whether they wanted it or not. It was a fairly cool idea in theory—until you realize that not everyone likes U2, and certainly not everyone wants an album preloaded on their music player they can't figure out how to delete. Eventually, Apple got the message and released a one-click tool to delete those Songs of Innocence.