"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

Classic marketing gaffes

the Burger King

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

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

New Coke

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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

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