I can remember a lot of brilliant ads done by Nike. Whether it’s TV commercials or billboards, they effortlessly grab attention, which is exactly what a good ad is supposed to do. They seem to have a really talented marketing team that does a wonderful job connecting with the target audience.
Then there are the really terrible ads that, far from making an impression, annoy people more. In fact, more than eight in 10 U.S. consumers (81%) say they try to ignore and tune out ads, according to a Gartner survey.
So why do some ads become big hits while others are labeled terrible? For instance, let’s look at McDonald’s advert about a boy mourning the loss of his father. They were going for emotional storytelling.
But they faced massive backlash for trivializing something traumatic. They were accused of trying to make money by using grief to sell food, which didn’t sit right with many customers.
Then there are racist ads that fail immediately. For example, NIVEA’s print ad claimed: “White is Purity.” People extensively criticized it for mirroring historically racist ideas about whiteness as being pure and non-whiteness as being impure. They drew a lot of negative public and media attention for this one, so they ended up withdrawing the whole campaign just 2 days after release.
Some brands also underestimate customer loyalty. Take Jaguar’s rebranding that happened in 2024. To signal its shift to an electric future, the brand introduced a new identity.
The leaping Jaguar logo was replaced with a minimalist monogram, which clearly didn’t represent the luxury British carmaker very well. Not only did this rebranding fail miserably, but the company also saw a staggering collapse in sales as well.
With AI taking over the world, we can’t really ignore how its use can make ads fail terribly. I am talking about Levi’s AI-generated model campaign that came out in 2023. The brand partnered with Lalaland.ai, which creates AI models. Apparently, Levi’s wanted to improve diversity in its digital product imagery and make online shopping more inclusive.
However, people were furious that instead of using real diverse models, they turned to AI. Their inauthenticity sparked backlash, not just from customers, but also from the fashion industry.
Before the digital age, it might have been easy to correct these failed campaigns. But today, once they go online, they stay there forever. I mean, “going viral” can be terrific, but it can also be terrible for brands if the ad fails.
A small mistake from the marketing team can become a global issue, leading to a long-term brand crisis and a permanent mark on it.
#19 I’m Not Sure If They Were Trying To Do This, But If Not, It Looks Horrible
