Marketing gaffes

"Gaffe" = a bad mistake that should have been avoided

Marketing gaffes occur when a company "markets" (advertise, sell, promote) a brand without anticipating negative consequences or consumer backlash

Lack of cross-cultural awareness

• many marketing blunders result from a company that tries to market a product or brand in another country without awareness of cultural sensitivities and attitudes in that country
• many such gaffes arise from poor translation
• others arise from a lack of awareness of consumer cultural preferences
  • for example, in the 1990s, Wilson Sporting Goods company hired an American consulting firm to analyze the potential for the brand's presence in the Brazilian soccer (futbol) market
    • Wilson had an existing strong presence in the tennis category
    • and remains so, in the 2020s -- without any breakthrough into soccer
    • soccer is a heavily brand-sensitive market in Brazil, and consumers simply did not associate "Wilson" with soccer
• see
  • Blooper proves bum deal for Sharwoods | Advertising | The Guardian
  • "Results of Poor Cross Cultural Awareness | by arman linkbuilding | Medium"

Classic marketing gaffes

the Burger King

• now called "BK", the maker of "Burger King" hamburgers tried to promote its mascot by posing the "Burger King" in a variety of everyday or known scenes (such as in an audience at an event) or having the mascot show up unexpectedly, such as in a man's bed when he woke up
• however, the Burger King mascot was seen as "creepy"
  • Burger King's King - Top 10 Creepiest Product Mascots - TIME
  • The Burger King Returns as Creepy as Ever | Miami New Times

Chevy Nova

• General Motors promoted the Chevrolet "Nova" without realizing that the name, "Nova" would be understood to Spanish speakers as "no va", or "doesn't go"
  • wikipedia calls this story an "urban legend": Chevrolet Chevy II / Nova - Wikipedia
  • however, the story came from somewhere, so it was most likely a common joke in Spanish-speaking Nova markets

Fresca

• similarly to the Chevy "Nova," the soft drink's launch in Mexico was marred by an unintended translation
• this time with the Mexican slang term "fresca" for lesbian
  • see: Advertising blunders: Five of the lesser-known classics (linkedin.com)
    • derived from: Results of Poor Cross Cultural Awareness | by arman linkbuilding | Medium

Honda Prelude

• In 1978, Honda launched a sports sedan
  • marketed as an affordable, easy to drive sports car that women could purchaser as well as men
• however, Japanese consumers became wary of the car because it had a distinct positioning of the lever to recline the passenger seat
  • located facing the driver (in the middle) rather than the on the outer (by the door),
  • consumers in Japan took offense, calling it the skenobu, for "horny knob" because it allowed for the driver to recline the passenger
  • the model became unpopular in Japan because of bad publicity about the lever's placement

• see: The Honda Prelude Was Controversial In Japan Because Of Something Called The 'Pervert Lever' (jalopnik.com)

New Coke

• < todo

Parker pen

• the British writing instrument maker Parker launched a slogan for its "Quink" line
  • "Avoid embarrassment -- use Quink"
• but instead mistranslated "embarrassment":
  • "Avoid pregnancy - use Quink"

see : Blooper proves bum deal for Sharwoods | Advertising | The Guardian

Sharwoods' Bundh sauce

• when the British firm decided to sell its curry sauces in India, it decided upon the name "Bundh"
• the word, "bundh", however, means "ass" ("arse" in Britain) in the local Punjabi language
  • see : Blooper proves bum deal for Sharwoods | Advertising | The Guardian

Non-gaffe marketing

Suburu marketed to lesbians

• the Japanese automobile brand is known as a preferred brand for lesbians
• the preference is a result of deliberate marketing by Suburu
  • in the 1990s the company ran demographic studies of its buyers
    • it discovered that "female head of household" was a strong demographic
    • so the company decided to deliberately market the vehicle to lesbians
• see: How Subarus Came to Be Seen as Cars for Lesbians - The Atlantic

Sources/ articles

• Famous Marketing Blunders | CBC Radio

• Five Big-Brand Campaigns That Flopped, From Burger King to Pepsi (businessinsider.com)
• 15 Worst Marketing Blunders Of All-Time | Marketing Campaign Fails (usdatacorporation.com)