The power and impact of marketing for any organization or business have become beyond imaginable. When done right, it can play a significant part in achieving business goals. The rewards of a good marketing campaign are immense. However, that also means, that if done wrong, can have the exact opposite impact.

With that said, here are the 5 most ridiculous marketing campaigns that were put in place;

–         Pepsi

Probably what is known as one of the most careless and worst marketing campaigns, the Pepsi TV Spot in 2017, starring Kendell Jenner, didn’t exactly go as the company predicted.

According to Pepsi, their aim with the campaign was to portray Pepsi as a brand that promotes diversity, peace, and unity. But, unfortunately, that message was not clear from the ad. If anything, the public argued that it represented the exact opposite.

The ad showed Kendell Jenner busy in a photoshoot while the protests are going on. Seeing the protests Kendell Jenner leaves her photoshoot and joins the protests. She then goes on hand a can of Pepsi to the Police Officer on duty.

And although Pepsi was very thoughtful when it comes to representing diversity, like the Muslim girl in Hijab, Asian and black people, it still failed to communicate properly what the ad was designed to.

Soon after the backlash, Pepsi removed the TV Spot but the backlash kept going on for a lit longer, for both, Kendell Jenner and Pepsi.

–         Dove Body Positivity Campaign

Ever since its launch, Dove has branded itself as a product that promotes body positivity and they have made sure that has been the center of all their marketing campaigns. And although the majority of them have been successful some few mistakes here and there made some of them a failure. Among them is the one where they launched limited edition bottles in different shapes and sizes to promote the idea that all body types are beautiful.

However, the campaign ended up giving women more insecurities rather than confidence. Consumers tried their best to buy the bottle that represented their body type and in return ended being more self – conscious 

–         The New Coke

The New Coke campaign of 1985 is the perfect example of why, sometimes, if things are going well, we should not interfere too much.

When Coke launched the New Coke in 1985, they had no idea they were launching what would turn out to be one of the biggest market failures. Although the new formula tasted way better, it still failed to connect with the consumers as they did not want a new coke in the first place. They wanted the same coke that they had in their grandparent’s house and have been drinking for years.

–         GAP

Most of the time, rebranding and changing logos brings excitement to the consumers. However, that is not what happened when GAP tried to change its logo in 2010. The consumers disliked the new logo so much that GAP had to go back to the previous one within six days.

–         Burger King

The marketing fails that we have talked about so far only happened once for these organizations. However, with Burger King, there was not just one rather a series of marketing fails that resulted in the company losing its value and position in the market and among consumers.

First, it was the reintroduction of The King, a mascot that was left behind in the 80’s. Then in 2009, a commercial launching their breakfast menu showed a woman singing to herself in the shower every day at 09:30 in the morning.

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