When I come across advertisements I see as major failures, I like to call them “oopsies,” just to be generous. In reality, I am often stunned at what seems to me to be bad strategy and a lack of attention to detail.  It’s more than avoiding stereotypes in advertising, it just doesn’t appear to me that the potential “side effects” of these current worst advertisements were even considered before the ads were run.  Let me share with you what are, in my opinion, the three worst ad campaigns of 2011.

Oops

 The three worst ad campaigns of 2011

  1. Dr. Pepper’s Ten commercial — “not for women”
  2. General Motors truck commercial — “Stop pedaling… start driving”
  3. Reebok EasyTone shoes

First let’s start with the Dr. Pepper® commercial for their new diet soda, Ten. The tag line in this commercial is actually “not for women.” Sounds pretty sexist right?  However, the company reports they “did the research, and it scored well with men and women.” They were right — some women aren’t bothered by it. But for others “Not for women” ranks as the most moronic slogan. Ever. (abcnews.com) It just makes me think “Is that the best you can come up with?” I simply thought we had moved past sexist advertisements. Although personally I am not offended, I wish that whomever developed this advertisement had used more creativity and intelligence.

Now let’s look at the GM® “Stop Pedaling, Start Driving” commercial. This is an advertisement that was set to run in college newspapers and it showed a girl driving by in a car smirking at a kid riding his bicycle, with a big “REALITY SUCKS” over the image. GM has decided to kill the advertisement “after receiving complaints that it makes fun of people who use bicycles for transportation.” But to me that does not seem like the only reason. The ad is horrible because it completely goes against the green movement. It’s just like saying “stop being conscious of the environment and start polluting.” Come on, those GM trucks are enormous.  At least GM had the smarts to kill the ad before it actually ran, even though thanks to the Internet the ad is all over the place.

Next up is the Reebok® EasyTone debacle.  These shoes promised to work miracles on your legs: “Lead to 28% more strength and tone in the buttock muscles, 11% more strength and tone in the calf muscles than regular walking shoes.” The only problem is that the miracle statistics were not backed up by actual scientific research — they are false claims. Customers were becoming quite unhappy when their legs weren’t looking like those of supermodel Heidi Klum. Now the FTC has ordered Reebok to compensate consumers who purchased EasyTone footwear, costing the company $25 million dollars.

Sometimes I have to wonder: “Who is creating these advertisements? Who is thinking of these ideas? And how can such advertisements actually be produced and aired for the world to see?” Is anyone else wondered the same things I do when a brand creates an “oopsie” for an advertisement? What are people thinking?

Related:

Business Insider: “The 10 Worst Ad Campaigns Of All Time”