Student Seeking the WORST Ad Campaign of 2007

I'm figuring some of you can help Julia. She's looking for the "worst ad campaign" from last year. If you have any suggestions, leave them in the comments section. Thanks.

Here's Julia's email:

"My name is Julia, and I am a marketing student doing my undergrad at McGill University. I am currently in an Advertising Management class, and we have been assigned to take what we think was the "worst ad campaign of 2007/2008" and pretty much fix it. I was wondering if you may have any bad ad campaigns in mind."

Comments

[Scott White]

Without question ASK.com. What did they waste 120 Million? Replaced the CEO I think? Had Kato Kalin star in one of their ad spots (smart huh).

[Owen Richard Kindig]

I can't say it's the worst, but I'd look at the Hummer campaign where the car flew into the water and became a submarine. And they ran it again and again and again. Pretty raunchy.

I'd have to say the Sonic campaign looked awful and seemed dumb. Don't know what results it got, though.

[Steve Liberati]

how can you even measure an advertising campaign to determine if it worked or not?
I don't think you can. That is the problem.

[Prescott Perez-Fox]

Anything with the Quizno's Baby. Is that crap still around?

[DUST!N]

Not the worst ad campaign, but does anyone understand why KFC (KENTUCKY Fried Chicken) uses Sweet Home ALABAMA as their theme music?

I'd have to second ASK.com. Bizarre and unintelligible.

[Jaclyn Moore]

What are your requirements for a bad ad? I think Owen begins to hit on an important - how are you supposed to determine if it is a bad ad? Are you going to take your "bad ad" and compare it to sales? Or are you looking to see if you think their ad was successful in promoting/supporting their brand?

The careerbuilder.com and snickers from last year's superbowl come to mind......

[Brian Elkins]

I would take a look at Wendy's recent spin with the red wig ads. Not only are they lacking in logic, but if value add is part of the assignment, I beleive they have seen very little positive impact. Adage ran a piece on the campaign recently, so it would be worth checking out

[Julia]

Thanks for all of your contributions, keep them comming!
As for what makes a bad ad...
I think what's most important in detecting a bad ad is if it portrays the brand poorly: Does it offend anyone? does it leave you remembering the brand at hand? Does it make you want to go a purchase/use the brand's product/service? Of course bad sales could be another indicator, although that may have to do with other factors(lack of availability, brand loyalty to competitor, etc)...
Mostly what I am looking for is an ad campaign that ends up leaving a bad impression of the brand or doesnt follow with brand recall.

[Julia]

I have to add, that I am looking for a bad ad CAMPAIGN of 2007 not just one individual bad ad.

[Chris Houchens]

I would have to second the Wendy's nomination. They've been lost since Dave died, but the red wigged guy campaign is (hopefully) the low point

[captain flummox]

I think a lot here on what she means by "bad." There are plenty that consumers and advertising people think are just awful, but I bet they worked. I would not be surprised if Head-On went off the charts for name recognition and maybe even trial. You could also make the case that any commercial that most people fast-forward through is "bad." If you can fix that there's a big bag of money and irate viewers waiting for you. Without identifying the specific brand, there's a U.S. car company running a campaign now featuring soliloquies from the presumed drivers that are so Gordon Gecko-inspired and self-absorbed they literally turn me against the brand. Lastly, to counter a comment above, I like the Sonic stuff.

[Zia Hassan]

The AT&T ad that tells you about how AT&T now works in Philistanicago.

(The obvious joke being that it should work in real places first)

[Lani Anglin-Rosales]

@Owen- the Sonic campaign created a lot of buzz (at least here in TX, we talk about it a lot) and it's the only campaign I will rewind the DVR for. But, it feeds into the "stupid" marketing campaigns that are doing well- it won't work on everyone.

@Zia- I too think the AT&T campaigns are stupid. Plus, the billboards are difficult to understand unless you're close up.

@Julia- recently, I wrote about bad campaigns and the explanations of the worst campaigns listed below can be found here...
(1) Scion
(2) Papa Johns
(3) Pepto Bismol
(4) Valtrex
(5) Emerald Nuts
(6) Pizza Hut

[Kristasphere]

That dumb-a Wendy's campaign with the Pippy Longstocking red wigs. Jeez, someone needs to be fired for that crap.

[Neale McDevitt]

Julia,

I am the editor of the McGill Reporter and I would love to do a fun little story on your project. Any chance you could contact me at neale.mcdevitt@mcgill.ca? Thanks.

[Lisa]

Julia, the question asks what you think, not what we think. While I would concur with those that think the Wendy's wig ads are terrible, I think your instructor wants your opinion not ours. Best of luck.

[johnmoore (from Brand Autopsy)]

Lisa ... Julia is not asking for our opinions on why certain ad campaigns from 2007 are bad. She is only asking for brand names.

[Brian]

I'd be curious to know about the Liberty Mutual campaign where the spots feature people helping other people. Examples: A lady turns away from her newspaper to stop a guy from walking in front of a bus, a guys helps a lady carry her carpet across the street, and the sexy jogger pauses to pick up a piece of trash.

My guess is that it was a good one when it first started before Christmas. But now ... if I hear that freaking song one more time, the next chance I get I'm going to just let someone walk out in front of a bus. Enough already. And, I would add, I had no idea of the brand on that one, despite the saturation, until a week ago when I made a point to watch for it.

As for the Sonic campaign ... I kind of enjoy it.

[Brian]

Also, here's hoping for a follow up. I'd enjoy learning what campaign you settle on and seeing what you do with it.

[Lani Anglin-Rosales]

Julie, I finished Part II of my analysis which focuses on the bad campaigns of:
(1) Royal Bank of Scotland
(2) Ovaltine
(3) Orbit Gum
(4) Dennis the Menace DVD
(5) Redenbacker Popcorn
(6) Aflac

[JP]

Do you want to know what is strange? I can't think of any campaigns - good or bad -right now. Hmmm. What's that say about the campaigns? Or, worse, my memory? ;) Anyway, Tiny Gigantic (http://www.tinygigantic.com) sometimes has a word or two to say about certain campaigns. Here's 3 examples:

http://www.tinygigantic.com/2007/10/27/is-this-a-blatant-rip-off-or-what

http://www.tinygigantic.com/2007/07/06/shoulda-hired-us-5

http://www.tinygigantic.com/2007/05/16/shoulda-hired-us-4

Good luck and have fun!
JP

[Yael Miller]

The swiffer commercials are horrible.

If you turn of the volume, you can really pick up on how obnoxious they are.

It's not that they give a negative opinion about the brand, it's that they are so fake, are based on poor concepts and totally don't speak to me (I'm sort of in the demographic).

Just a thought...

[James]

To add a little to what Yael said, there are many ad campaigns out there doing just that, and yes, they are really becoming obnoxious. (Fake claims.) On another note, I saw three car company ads the other day, all in a row, all claiming they were the number 1 dealership in the metroplex. To have a bad campaign, just being like all the other ads is definitely bad. That might be an angle to look at, Julia.

[Scott]

The Dominos Oreo Pizza commercial was pretty bad. How does two guys with oreo pizza mustaches make me want to try that?

[Fletch]

All of the above mentioned campaigns are brilliant compared to the Tampax "Protecting Futures: Use Your Period for Good."

Seriously?!?

P&G grabbing at "green" straws.

[Rachel]

Has anyone seen the ridiculous Viagra advertising campaign - "Viva Viagra"? What an awful concept with no creativity. It's like one of the advertising agency's interns came up with the idea in the shower, nobody else had a "better" one and that's what they went with. We all know what Viagra does and why someone would buy it. What does sitting around and strumming a guitar with your buddys have to do with it?

Now here's a great ED ad...this gets your attention.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFuuHPkORsA.

[Bob]

#1 Worst Tv ad is psycho Flight attendant on Nicorette-very bad taste

#2 is Kellogs cereal ad where everyone spits on everyone-extremely disgusting

#3 is Ikea ad where she screams "start the car" about four times-completely idiotic

these ads must be made BY morons FOR morons

[MIchael Street]

Bad campaigns huh... Well you would have to pick a company you have never heard of before. No publicity is bad publicity, if you have heard of the company chances are its marketing dept. is not doing that bad of a job.

[sue]

The new Absolut vodka ad has many people seeing red. They may possibly see a boycott from this ad campaign, I would definitely think it was the worst ad idea for the year!

[meg]

I think the Yaz ads are bad. Putting the song "We're not gonna take it" with an ad trying to get people to take pills just seems counterproductive.