Hello and welcome back to my blog!
We live in a time where race, gender and sexual orientation remain as highly sensitive topics. Brands need to be careful in coming out with controversial ads on the Internet which may spark public outrage even if there was no intention to offend anyone in particular in the first place at all.
Below, we take a look at 3 marketing fails from brands who just obviously did not think through about the possible messages their ads might convey, before posting it out for the world to see.
1) Nivea: "White is Purity"
As part of Nivea's campaign to promote its "Invisible for Black and White" deodorant, their Middle-East division posted an ad on their Facebook Page which depicts the back of a woman's head - with long, dark hair which covers her white outfit.. Now, here is part which will get you raising your eyebrows -- the tagline reads "White is Purity".
Nivea was accused of being racially insensitive with this seemingly discriminatory post. If Nivea did not see this coming at all, especially sending out such an offensive message to the Middle-Eastern community... well, I'd have no words.
Lesson learnt: Brands need to avoid posting things that demeans another's race. With Nivea's badly-worded caption here, it simply implies to their audience that they take sides and support racial superiority.
2) Dolce & Gabbana: "DG Loves China"
In clips posted to the luxury brand's Instagram page, they showed a Chinese woman dressed in the brand's clothes trying to use chopsticks to eat Italian food - namely a pizza, a large cannoli and spaghetti.
Although the videos are meant to promote Dolce & Gabbana's new campaign "DG Loves China", they have been met with backlash and criticism on social media, with many accusing them of stereotyping the Chinese race - painting them as people who lack refinement/ culture to understand how to eat foreign food.
It doesn't help that there is an over-the-top embellishment of cliche ambient music and comical pronunciations of foreign names/ words throughout the video. Shame on you for this one, DG.
Lesson learnt: Don't stereotype. Don't mock races in your ads.
3) Pepsi: Kendall Jenner Commercial
Dubbed as one of 2017's biggest marketing fails, Pepsi obviously did not think it through when they uploaded a controversial ad on YouTube - featuring Kendall Jenner, a high-profile member of the celebrity Kardashian family, who in the video, stepped away from a modeling shoot to join a crowd of young, diverse individuals at a protest.
Watch the video below:
In the video, protesters cheer after Jenner hands a can of Pepsi to a police officer, who takes a sip and smiles at his colleague. The ad was widely criticized for being insensitive, perceived by many netizens as a co-opting of the Black Lives Matter Movement.
The video was wrong in many ways - it appears to trivialize street protests in the US, suggesting that protesters and police would get along better if the former were kinder with regard to the Black Lives Matter Movement.
Lesson learnt: Brands should never make light of social issues related to people's suffering; they should instead focus on selling their products in ways that do not exploit people's pain.
Fortunately, Pepsi handled the fallout well by being swift in their apology posted onto their Twitter page. However, all eyes will be on their next campaign, which I personally can't wait to see what they come up with next! (not being sarcastic at all, really).
What are some marketing campaign fails that you have come across online?
Share your thoughts on them with me in the comments section down below!
Great read! What do you think companies can do to prevent these things from happening, besides those that you have mentioned? Anyway, I came across a campaign that backfired: The Protein World Beach Body Campaign. Viewers felt that they were being criticised for not having a "Beach body". You can read more about it here: https://www.thejournal.ie/protein-world-advert-2074630-Apr2015/
@Ernie Khairina
Hi there! Good question you've got.
I feel that it is ever-so important that they first acknowledge their mistake in their failed ad through an apology to the public. Marketers should really discuss among themselves and make sure that their message doesn't come off as offensive to make sure such backlash does not happen again in future. It can be really harmful for brand's reputation should they not review their campaign properly!
@Goh Yw
Yes, I totally agree! They really should have thought through their campaign before posting such offensive content. Pretty ironic how their ad targets their audience in China but they came off as mocking the Chinese culture in the video. As a Chinese myself, I really feel D&G was being insensitive. I hope they learnt from their mistake after suffering backlash!
@Hazel Ong While it is important that marketers realize where they went wrong and should definitely apologize for coming off as rude and offensive in their campaigns, it is also equally important that they learn from this mistake. They should always review their content through a critical lens before posting it out for the world to see, to avoid making the same mistakes in future!
Hi Cheryl!
In this day and age, companies need to be more sensitive in how they advertise their products/brand.
As seen from the examples given above, companies can easily infuriate the masses just by a single misinterpreted statement.
What should marketers do to prevent misinterpretations in the future?
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