§ Subscribe

RSS logo
Alternatives


Enter your email address to receive blog updates by email:

Delivered by FeedBurner

§ Utterz

§ Podcast

  • For Immediate Release
    A weekly podcast for professional communicators from Shel Holtz, ABC and Neville Hobson, ABC.
    Podcast Feed
    Vote for FIR

§ PR Search

View blog authority

§ Places


§ Dead Trees

  • How to Do Everything with Podcasting

    by Shel Holtz with Neville Hobson

    cover

  • Blogging for Business

    by Shel Holtz and Ted Demopoulos

    cover

  • Corporate Conversations

    by Shel Holtz

    cover

  • Public Relations on the Net

    by Shel Holtz

    cover


§ License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Technorati: Blogs that link here

Monday, December 17, 2007

PR and marketing errors pepper Fortune’s annual list

Money magazine is out with its annual ”101 Dumbest Moments in Business,” and PR/marketing gaffes get their fair share of representation in the list. (I’m not including advertising in this review, since I generally don’t cover advertising on this blog.) The vast majority of the lapses in judgment covered in the list created PR issues for the organizations involved, but the following were created by bad communications or had unusually horrific PR consequences:

#8—A YouTube video of rats frolicking in a New York Taco Bell gets millions of views.

#16—Microsoft PR agency Waggener Edstrom sends a 12-page dossier on a Wired contributing editor to the Wired contributing editor. The less-than-flattering dossier, calling the editor “tricky” and “sensational,” was meant to go to Microsoft executives.

#17—Redux is warned by the FDA to rename its energy drink, which was called Cocaine. It was renamed to Censored, then NoName.

#21—The Cartoon Network hires a marketing agency to place electronic lightboards promoting its characters. In Boston, they’re mistaken for bombs, creating a crisis.

#36—Best Buy is sued by the Connecticut attorney general over its in-store, kiosk-baed intranet, which employees reportedly used to display prices higher than those advertised on the external website.

#46—Johnson & Johnson sues the American Red Cross over the use of its Red Cross logo.

#51—Nine-year-old Shea O’Gorman writes a letter to Apple making suggestions about how to improve his iPod Nano. In response, the legal department sends him a letter telling him outside recommendations are not accepted and telling him not to write any more letters. (I guess Apple won’t be launching its own version of Dell’s IdeaStorm any time soon.)

#65—Verizon refuses to distribute text messages for the abortion rights organizaton NARAL to people who opt in to receive the messages. They had to reverse themselves later, claiming they had “great respect for the free flow of ideas.”

#67—McDonald’s launches a campaign to get the Oxford English Dictionary to change its less-than-flattering definition of “McJob.”

#81—Internet hosting company 365 Main issues a press release touting its 24/7 reliability. The same day, a power failure takes out three of its generators, knocking out Red Envelope, Technorati, and CraigsList.

#84—Southwest makes passenger Kyla Ebbert cover her legs after initially throwing her off the plane over her short skirt. She winds up promoting new airline Virgin America.

#89—British Airways edits out Virgin’s logo on airplane tails and also edits out Richard Branson’s cameo when showing “Casino Royale” in flight.

#90—Southwest Airlines, fresh from trying to recover from the Kyla Ebbert debacle, makes a fellow wearing a t-shirt that reads “Master Baiter” change his shirt before allowing him to board. This leads to another apology.

#96—Reports emerge everywhere of illicit changes to Wikipeda when Wikiscanner launches. Wikiscanner connects changes to the people making them.

Posted by Shel on 12/17 at 12:16 PM
Business • Marketing • PR • (4) Comments • (1) Trackbacks • Permalink
Page 1 of 1 pages