History HarsherInHindsight / Advertising

* Dutch airline KLM ran print ads prominently featuring one of their pilots, Jacob Veldhuyzen van Zanten. Shortly afterwards, Veldhuyzen van Zanten was killed in the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenerife_airport_disaster Tenerife airport disaster]], which happened in part because of some major piloting errors he made.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXuM6nzoQRc Lose weight with AYDS!]] Yeah, about that...

* Dutch airline KLM ran print ads prominently featuring one of their pilots, Jacob Veldhuyzen van Zanten. Shortly afterwards, Veldhuyzen van Zanten was killed in the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenerife_airport_disaster Tenerife airport disaster.]]

* [[Advertising/1984 Apple's '1984' advert]], depicting IBM as a 1984-esque Big Brother figure, while these days, Apple are HUGE champions of Digital Restrictions Management and locking down devices so users can't use devices they own to their full capability. In addition, Apple banned Website/TheBestPageInTheUniverse from being viewable from Apple Stores and on Apple offices' networks, which Maddox speculates was due to his [[http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=iphone anti-iPhone page]].

* [[Advertising/{{1984}} Apple's '1984' advert]], depicting IBM as a 1984-esque Big Brother figure, while these days, Apple are HUGE champions of Digital Restrictions Management and locking down devices so users can't use devices they own to their full capability. In addition, Apple banned Website/TheBestPageInTheUniverse from being viewable from Apple Stores and on Apple offices' networks, which Maddox speculates was due to his [[http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=iphone anti-iPhone page]].

* Apple's '1984' advert, depicting IBM as a 1984-esque Big Brother figure, while these days, Apple are HUGE champions of Digital Restrictions Management and locking down devices so users can't use devices they own to their full capability. In addition, Apple banned Website/TheBestPageInTheUniverse from being viewable from Apple Stores and on Apple offices' networks, which Maddox speculates was due to his [[http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=iphone anti-iPhone page]].

* An [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX-xOiZDmwI ad for Flexon bendable eyeglass frames]] showed a metal skyscraper ducking out of the way of an oncoming airplane. The campaign debuted in August 2001. It wouldn't air much more after [[TheWarOnTerror the events of September 11.]]

* An [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX-xOiZDmwI ad for Flexon bendable eyeglass frames]] showed a metal skyscraper ducking out of the way of an oncoming airplane. The campaign debuted in August 2001. It wouldn't air much more after the events of September 11.

* After 2012 Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius shot and killed his girlfriend, Nike pulled a poster featuring the track star, which contained the tagline: "I am the bullet in the chamber."

* Nike ads featuring double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius with the tagline "I am the bullet in the chamber" became unfortunate after Pistorius was charged with shooting his girlfriend.

* Greyhound unveiled a series of billboard ads with the phrase "There's a reason you've never heard of 'Bus Rage'", mere weeks before a passenger was murdered and beheaded aboard a Greyhound bus in Canada.

* In 2008, Greyhound pulled a series of bus ads, with one featuring the slogan "There's a reason you've never heard of bus rage," after passenger Vince Li, in the midst of a psychotic episode, attacked and decapitated fellow passenger Tim [=McLean=].

* [=WaMu=] [[OfficiallyShortenedTitle (Washington Mutual Bank)]] ran ads in the mid-2000s showing that they kept the "stuffy old bankers" penned up where they couldn't get in the way of their innovative financial services. Then they folded in the 2008 banking crisis.

* During the '00s, Washington Mutual ran a series of ad campaigns focused on how great it was for its bold new business practices that were so great for consumers, like loans for borrowers that other banks considered risky. The campaigns featured [=WaMu=]'s hip spokesman contrasted against a bunch of old and stodgy executives from their competitors, all of whom would declare that [=WaMu=]'s new innovation [[ItWillNeverCatchOn would never catch on]]. Then [=WaMu=] went bankrupt...because of loans to risky borrowers.

* A Federal Express ad features Steve Irwin dying of a snake bite because he used the wrong service to deliver the antidote. Granted, it wasn't a snake that ended up killing him, but still...

* [=FedEx=] did a commercial where [[https://youtu.be/Qj36nwn0JcE Steve Irwin]] (of Series/CrocodileHunter fame) was bitten by a snake, and croaked because the antivenom wasn't shipped by [=FedEx=] and didn't get there. Of course, it wasn't a snake that ultimately killed him, but still...

* Ronald [=McDonald=], the longtime clown mascot of [=McDonald's=], was much less prominent after the 2016 clown sightings, which led to many places banning clown costumes and masks out of fears of violence. However, Ronald had attracted some controversy well before that for marketing unhealthy fast food to children as concerns about childhood obesity have grown. Most of the other [=McDonaldland=] characters had already been phased out. His name still adorns [=McDonald's=] children's charity, Ronald [=McDonald=] House.

* Ronald [=McDonald=], the longtime clown mascot of [=McDonald's=], was much less prominent after the 2016 clown sightings, which led to many places banning clown costumes and masks out of fears of violence. However, Ronald had attracted some controversy well before that for marketing unhealthy fast food to children as concerns about childhood obesity have grown. His name still adorns [=McDonald's=] children's charity, Ronald [=McDonald=] House.

* Domino's Pizza had a hit advertising campaign on its hands with The Noid, a claymation character created by Will Vinton Studios, the same company that created the Franchise/CaliforniaRaisins. The Noid, a manic character in a red suit with a rabbit-ear hood, was a personification of all of the possible things that could befall a pizza during delivery, such as cold pizza or the pizza getting crushed, while Domino's promised that their delivery drivers would help you "avoid the Noid!" by delivering a hot, fresh pizza to your door in 30 minutes or less. It even got its own video game from Capcom. Unfortunately, in 1989, Kenneth Lamar Noid, a man suffering with a number of mental illnesses, entered a Georgia Domino's, claiming that Domino's had stolen his name for the Noid. He later surrendered to police and was found not guilty by reason of insanity, but went on to commit suicide in 1995. At that time, Domino's quietly discontinued the Noid character, though they insisted that the discontinuation had nothing to do with Mr. Noid's suicide when they were asked about it. However, in the 2010s, Domino began phasing the Noid back in through brief appearances before bringing him back in 2021.

* Domino's Pizza had a hit advertising campaign on its hands with The Noid, a claymation character created by Will Vinton Studios, the same company that created the Franchise/CaliforniaRaisins. The Noid, a manic character in a red suit with a rabbit-ear hood, was a personification of all of the possible things that could befall a pizza during delivery, such as cold pizza or the pizza getting crushed, while Domino's promised that their delivery drivers would help you "avoid the Noid!" It even got its own video game from Capcom. Unfortunately, in 1989, Kenneth Lamar Noid, a man suffering with a number of mental illnesses, entered a Georgia Domino's, claiming that Domino's had stolen his name for the Noid. He later surrendered to police and was found not guilty by reason of insanity, but went on to commit suicide in 1995. At that time, Domino's quietly discontinued the Noid character, though they insisted that the discontinuation had nothing to do with Mr. Noid's suicide when they were asked about it. However, in the 2010s, Domino began phasing the Noid back in through brief appearances before bringing him back in 2021.

* Ronald McDonald, the longtime clown mascot of McDonald's, was much less prominent after the 2016 clown sightings, which led to many places banning clown costumes and masks out of fears of violence. However, Ronald had attracted some controversy well before that for marketing unhealthy fast food to children as concerns about childhood obesity have grown. His name still adorns McDonald's children's charity, Ronald McDonald House.

* A 1978 [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XbudZT7DgA commercial]] for the US Olympic committee encourages donations to help aid US swimmers in training for the Moscow Olympics. After the invasion of Afghanistan a year later, the US would boycott the games.

* Comedian Enrique San Francisco's last work before passing away in March 2021 (merely nine days before what would have been his 66th birthday) was the 2020 Christmas advert for food company Campofrío... in which he played Death itself.

* Ads for Schlitterbahn water park Kansas City. One had singing about making memories with family and having fun. The park’s record setting Verruckt water slide was prominent in one shot in the ad. [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verrückt_(water_slide) Then, in 2016, a 10 year old boy died when the raft he was in on the slide went airborne and he was decapitated.]] The park operators were found to have been negligent in designing the ride.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTitP5_yDUU Lose weight with AYDS!]] Yeah, about that...

* Ads for Schlitterbahn water park Kansas City. One had singing about making memories with family and having fun. The park’s record setting Verruckt water slide was prominent in one shot in the ad. Then, in 2016, a 10 year old boy died when the raft he was in on the slide went airborne and he was decapitated.

* In early 2020 Italian TV channels aired [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMnNCzwMA7Q an ad]] featuring the mascot of Crodino (a popular non-alcoholic drink), a talking gorilla. The gorilla said that people should re-learn to socialize the old-fashioned way, i.e. being more physical, hugging each other and going to the bar to drink Crodino and talk in-person instead of behind a screen. It was likely supposed to be an answer to the increase of hate speech and trolling that ruined online communities and was spreading to the physical space too. Unfortunately, it aired exactly when Italy became the first Western country to suffer the catastrophic effects of the Coronavirus pandemic: people had to quickly learn the art of social distancing and had to rely much more than before on technology to keep in touch. So, the gorilla's well-intentioned message became immediately outdated and even counter-productive and dangerous, and the ad was quickly pulled from circulation. To add insult to injury, the long version of the ad (linked above) featured people all over the world hugging and kissing each other.

* In early 2020 Italian TV channels aired [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMnNCzwMA7Q an ad]] featuring the mascot of Crodino (a popular non-alcoholic drink), a talking gorilla. The gorilla said that people should re-learn to socialize the old-fashioned way, i.e. being more physical, hugging each other and going to the bar to drink Crodino and talk in-person instead of behind a screen. It was likely supposed to be an answer to the increase of hate speech and trolling that ruined online communities and was spreading to the physical space too. Unfortunately, it aired exactly when Italy became the first Western country to suffer the catastrophic effects of the Coronavirus pandemic: people had to quickly learn the art of social distancing and had to rely much more than before on technology to keep in touch. So, the gorilla's well-intentioned message became immediately outdated and even counter-productive and dangerous, and the ad was quickly pulled from circulation. To add insult to injury, the long version of the ad (linked above) featured people all over the world hugging and kissing each other.
* A 1967 jingle for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXJCsFCPAGs Aunt Jemima pancakes and syrup]] sang that the only thing worse than eating the pancakes without the syrup would be "no Aunt Jemima's at all." In 2021, Quaker announced plans to [[https://www.pepsico.com/news/press-release/aunt-jemima-rebrands-as-pearl-milling-company02092021 rebrand]] Aunt Jemima pancakes and syrup under the name "Pearl Milling Company", to remove any reference to {{Mammy}} stereotypes.

* A 1967 jingle for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXJCsFCPAGs Aunt Jemima pancakes and syrup]] sang that the only thing worse than pairing the pancakes with a different brand of syrup would be "no Aunt Jemima's at all." In 2021, Quaker announced plans to [[https://www.pepsico.com/news/press-release/aunt-jemima-rebrands-as-pearl-milling-company02092021 rebrand]] Aunt Jemima pancakes and syrup under the name "Pearl Milling Company", to remove any reference to {{Mammy}} stereotypes.

* Not too long ago, Greyhound unveiled a series of billboard ads with the phrase "There's a reason you've never heard of 'Bus Rage'", mere weeks before a passenger was murdered and beheaded aboard a Greyhound bus in Canada.

* In early 2020 Italian TV channels aired [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMnNCzwMA7Q an ad]] featuring the mascot of Crodino (a popular non-alcoholic drink), a talking gorilla. The gorilla said that people should re-learn to socialize the old-fashioned way, i.e. being more physical, hugging each other and going to the bar to drink Crodino and talk in-person instead of behind a screen. It was likely supposed to be an answer to the increase of hate speech and trolling that ruined online communities and was spreading to the physical space too. Unfortunately, it aired exactly when Italy became the first Western country to suffer the catastrophic effects of the Coronavirus pandemic: people had to quickly learn the art of social distancing and had to rely much more than before on technology to keep in touch. So, the gorilla's well-intentioned message became immediately outdated and even counter-productive and dangerous, and the ad was quickly pulled from circulation. To add insult to injury, the long version of the ad (linked above) featured people all over the world hugging and kissing each other.

* In early 2020 Italian TV channels aired [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMnNCzwMA7Q an ad]] featuring the mascot of Crodino (a popular non-alcoholic drink), a talking gorilla. The gorilla said that people should re-learn to socialize the old-fashioned way, i.e. being more physical, hugging each other and going to the bar to drink Crodino and talk in-person instead of behind a screen. It was likely supposed to be an answer to the increase of hate speech and trolling that ruined online communities and was spreading to the physical space too. Unfortunately, it aired exactly when Italy became the first Western country to suffer the catastrophic effects of the Coronavirus pandemic: people had to quickly learn the art of social distancing and had to rely much more than before on technology to keep in touch. So, the gorilla's well-intentioned message became immediately outdated and even counter-productive and dangerous, and the company had no chance but to retire the ad. To add insult to injury, the long version of the ad (linked above) featured people all over the world hugging and kissing each other.

* In early 2020 Italian TV channels aired [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMnNCzwMA7Q an ad]] featuring the mascot of Crodino (a popular non-alcoholic drink), a talking gorilla. The gorilla said that people should re-learn to socialize the old-fashioned way, i.e. being more physical, hugging each other and going to the bar to drink Crodino and talk in-person instead of behind a screen. It was likely supposed to be an answer to the increase of hate speech and trolling that ruined online communities and was spreading to the physical space too. Unfortunately, it aired exactly when Italy became the first Western country to suffer the catastrophic effects of the Coronavirus pandemic: people had to quickly learn the art of social distancing and had to rely much more than before on technology to keep in touch. So, the gorilla's well-intentioned message became immediately outdated and even counter-productive and dangerous, and the company had no chance but retire the ad.

* Dutch airline KLM ran print ads prominently featuring one of their pilots, Jacob Veldhuyzen van Zanten. Shortly afterwards, Veldhuyzen van Zanten was killed in the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenerife_airport_disaster Tenerife airport disaster.]]

* In the 1960s, Humble Oil produced an [[https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/humble-pie/ advertisement]] boasting that the oil they output each day could melt 7 million tons of glacier. In the 2010s, melting glaciers is something oil companies really don't want to be associated with.