{"id":39835,"date":"2011-10-14T12:50:11","date_gmt":"2011-10-14T18:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/?p=39835"},"modified":"2015-11-02T19:05:05","modified_gmt":"2015-11-03T01:05:05","slug":"10-huge-branding-mistakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/10-huge-branding-mistakes\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Huge Branding Mistakes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a title=\"10 Huge Branding Mistakes\" href=\"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/10-huge-branding-mistakes\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-39842 lazyload\" title=\"montage\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/montage1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"462\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/montage1.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/montage1-300x277.jpg 300w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 500px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 500\/462;\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding: 0px 0px 0pt 0pt; float: left;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/digg.com\/tools\/diggthis.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding: 5px 5px 5pt 5pt; float: left;\"><a name=\"fb_share\" type=\"box_count\" href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Share<\/a><script src=\"http:\/\/static.ak.fbcdn.net\/connect.php\/js\/FB.Share\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding: 0px 2px 0pt 0pt; float: left;\">\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/tweetmeme.com\/i\/scripts\/button.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<p>In today&#8217;s wacky world of advertising and rampant consumerism, a company must forever be changing in order to stay cutting edge. Attention spans grow shorter everyday, no thanks to the visual rape we are incessantly faced with; a constant barrage of billboards, taxi ads, commercials, YouTube commercials, popups on every website, and even plastered all over sporting events. Sometimes, in the race to stay ahead of the curve, companies hugely miscalculate what audiences want to see &#8212; and screw up big time. Here are 10 companies who made enormous branding mistakes.<br \/>\n<!--more--><\/p>\n<h2>Netflix\/Qwikster<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-39844 lazyload\" title=\"qwikster-netflix\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/qwikster-netflix.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/qwikster-netflix.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/qwikster-netflix-300x225.jpg 300w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 500px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 500\/375;\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/socialbarrel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/Netflix-Backtracks-Kills-Qwikster-Before-Launch.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Image Source<\/a><\/p>\n<p>We all know and love <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Qwikster#Qwikster\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Netflix<\/a>.\u00a0 It seems like only yesterday when the company appeared from out of the abyss, simultaneously changing our lives with easy access to our favorite movies and digging the grave of such outmoded business models as \u201cBlockbuster.\u201d\u00a0 Later, when America had deemed even Natflix\u2019s simple mail-order design to be too complicated, the company anticipated and satiated us with \u201cNetflix Instant Play\u201d allowing the world instantaneous access to the world of cinema at the click of a button.<\/p>\n<p>It was hard to believe that they could make any mistakes over there\u2026 until we heard about Qwikster.\u00a0 The best ideas are simple ones &#8212; a principle that Netflix had exploited to great success in the past.\u00a0 Qwikster represented the ultimate in unnecessary and inconvenient change.\u00a0 The idea was as follows: split the company in two.\u00a0 One site, Netflix, would be an Instant Play computer movie watching services and Qwikster would handle the mail order DVDs and in the commotion of new logos and log-in pages up a few prices such as video game rentals.<\/p>\n<p>The people were not hesitant to point out that this was an unwanted, unneeded and kind of unfair set of changes and Qwikster was born without a breath, consigned unto the history books alongside the cold, dead corpse of Blockbuster\u2019s glory days.<\/p>\n<h2>Burger King King<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-39837 lazyload\" title=\"burger\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/burger.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"339\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/burger.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/burger-300x203.jpg 300w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 500px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 500\/339;\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.geekosystem.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/burger-king-halloween-mask-2.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Image Source<\/a><\/p>\n<p>We all know Burger King, and most Americans have likely indulged in their delicious fast food treats &#8212; that is, when there\u2019s no McDonald\u2019s in sight.\u00a0 It\u2019s no small wonder that McDonald\u2019s has been so successful when its spokesman is a rather creepy, white-faced clown.<\/p>\n<p>Burger King gets no such slack for a creepy mascot.\u00a0 A number of years ago they introduced the Burger King King, a mute and giant-faced medieval King who scared most people right off their whoppers.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t until 2011 that BK execs saw a correlation between dropping sales and the King\u2019s off-putting silence.\u00a0 Meanwhile, Ronald McDonald continues to smirk.<\/p>\n<h2>Calvin Klein<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-39839\" title=\"calvin\" src=\"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/calvin.bmp\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.porhomme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/calvin-klein-banned-jean-commercial-1.bmp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Image Source<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/trendland.net\/banned-calvin-klein-commercial\/#\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sex sells<\/a>.\u00a0 It\u2019s the first thing you\u2019ll learn in advertising school\u2026 but not the only thing.\u00a0 That\u2019s what the execs at Calvin Klein failed to realize when they spent about 30 seconds translating this cheap marketing wisdom into one of the company\u2019s most famously failed branding attempts.<\/p>\n<p>In 2009 Calvin Klein released a number of video and print ads featuring a series of bizarre sexual images resembling the later hours at a High School party most of us were never quite cool enough to attend\u2026 you know the one, where sexy hairless denim lovers of all genders rub up on each other.<\/p>\n<p>The ads were provocative, yes, but for the most part too alienating and uncomfortably arousing to get anyone thinking about their next denim purchase.\u00a0 They were quickly removed from the air.<\/p>\n<h2>Accenture<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-39836 lazyload\" title=\"accenture\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/accenture.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"331\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/accenture.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/accenture-300x198.jpg 300w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 500px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 500\/331;\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kaizenbits.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/accenturenetoworking.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Image Source<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Oftentimes it\u2019s a desperate exec\u2019s attempt to be hip and cool that steers a company in the direction of branding disaster.\u00a0 Such desperation is never attractive or productive, and this reckless \u201chip\u201d seeking when the company <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Arthur_Andersen#Andersen_Consulting_and_Accenture\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">split from Arthur Andersen<\/a> was clearly the motivating factor in turning a company called <a href=\"http:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/rebranding-failures-2010-3#accenture-the-ultimate-corporate-name-that-means-nothing-6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Andersen Consulting<\/a> into one called Accenture.<\/p>\n<p>Accenture means \u201cAccent on the future,\u201d but not really.\u00a0 The name itself conveys no readily accessible name.\u00a0 And while Andersen Consulting sounds like a company that owns a building filled with men and women who do things for people\u2026 Accenture conjures a more faceless set of images as well as other meaningless words like synergy and streamlining.<\/p>\n<p>Considered to be one of the worst corporate rebrandings of all time, the Accenture name-change is estimated to have cost $100 MILLION dollars.<\/p>\n<h2>New Coke<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-39843 lazyload\" title=\"newcoke\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/newcoke.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/newcoke.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/newcoke-300x225.jpg 300w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 500px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 500\/375;\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3372\/3187564773_ef6aa8cf88.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Image Source<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.msnbc.msn.com\/id\/7209828\/ns\/us_news\/t\/it-seemed-good-idea-time\/#.Tpf3fK7HYaU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Coca-Cola<\/a>, in addition to being one of the most successful brands in the country, is a deeply engrained cultural emblem symbolic of American values: of our proud past and of our bright future.<\/p>\n<p>In 1985, amidst much pomp and circumstance, the company released a new version of the classic soft drink.\u00a0 New Coke was supposed to be \u201csmoother, rounder yet bolder\u201d but Americans saw all of this as a great tampering rather than an improvement.\u00a0 Would you improve the American flag?\u00a0 Would you edit the Bible?\u00a0 No?\u00a0 Then why change Coca-Cola??<\/p>\n<p>New Coke was failing to sell and consumers were selling black market cases of classic Coke for as much as $30 dollars as a case.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t take long for Coca-Cola to realize it\u2019s mistake and go back to doing what they did best\u2026 producing the same brown sugar sludge that had rotted our teeth for decades.<\/p>\n<h2>Lost in Translation<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-39847 lazyload\" title=\"translation\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/translation.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/translation.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/translation-300x199.jpg 300w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 500px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 500\/333;\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-BR3CeH08cWo\/TWogTjKPxqI\/AAAAAAAAA_w\/4YpcWxkUk7Q\/s1600\/got%2Bmilk%2Bshirt.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Image Source<\/a><\/p>\n<p>A number of major marketing blunders come from simple errors in translation.\u00a0 While it\u2019s amazing to consider that ad campaigns, those silly little business ventures that cost millions and millions of dollars, could actually overlook something as central as, you know, the meaning of the words they print in their ads.<\/p>\n<p>But it happens all the time.\u00a0The Coors \u201cTurn it loose\u201d slogan translated into a Spanish idiom for diarrhea.\u00a0 Perdue Chicken\u2019s slogan \u201cIt takes a strong man to make a tender chicken\u201d was translated in Spanish to \u201cIt takes an aroused man to make a chicken affectionate,\u201d and Mexican consumers read the translated \u201cGot Milk?\u201d as \u201cAre you lactating?\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Microsoft Blue Screen of Death<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-39845 lazyload\" title=\"screenofdeath\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/screenofdeath.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/screenofdeath.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/screenofdeath-300x225.jpg 300w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 500px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 500\/375;\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/billselak\/849328944\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Image Source<\/a><\/p>\n<p>It should be some comfort for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dllegal.com\/BrandGaffs.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bill Gates<\/a> to know that Microsoft wasn\u2019t simply buried by Apple\u2019s innovation and superior brand appeal.\u00a0 That might make him feel weak and out of control.\u00a0 Microsoft was also buried by Microsoft.\u00a0 Not only did they lose their ability to make their product seem comparatively hip, hot and oh-so-indispensable, but they made a crucial error during an equally crucial marketing opportunity.<\/p>\n<p>Most of us are familiar with Apple\u2019s signature \u201cWheel of Death\u201d, a spinning rainbow pie that signifies the end of a computer\u2019s functionality.\u00a0 Our parents might recall a similar phenomenon called the Blue Screen of Death, a Microsoft based harbinger of frustration and doom.\u00a0 When the Blue Screen of Death appears, you\u2019re done for.<\/p>\n<p>At a pre-release screening of Windows 98 for an audience of press members, stunned onlookers chortled as the Blue Screen appeared and Microsoft employees blushed as their new program crashed before their eyes.<\/p>\n<h2>Yesterday and Today<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-39838 lazyload\" title=\"butcher\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/butcher.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"500\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/butcher.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/butcher-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/butcher-300x300.jpg 300w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 500px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 500\/500;\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/dharmalady.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/cover-beatles-yesterday_today.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Image Source<\/a><\/p>\n<p>This <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dllegal.com\/BrandGaffs.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">branding disaster<\/a> might come as a comfort to some who are tired of hearing nothing but praise for the Beatles.\u00a0 I mean, come on, they weren\u2019t Gods among men.\u00a0 Just musicians with nerdy haircuts and the ability to make mistakes.<\/p>\n<p>One notable mistake was the cover of their 66 album \u201cYesterday and Today.\u201d\u00a0 Known as\u00a0 the \u201cButcher Cover,\u201d it featured photographs of the rock stars in blood smeared butcher coats surrounded by raw red meat and dismembered baby dolls.<br \/>\nWhen the public was inevitably both shocked and dismayed, Capitol Records attempted a recall, eventually shipping replacement covers to many of the 750,000 consumers who had purchased the album.<\/p>\n<p>Said George Harrison of the incident: &#8220;I thought it was gross, and I also thought it was stupid. Sometimes we all did stupid things thinking it was cool and hip when it was naive and dumb; and that was one of them.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2>The Shack<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-39846 lazyload\" title=\"shack\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/shack.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"504\" height=\"200\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/shack.jpg 504w, https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/shack-300x119.jpg 300w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 504px) 100vw, 504px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 504px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 504\/200;\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.nombat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/radio_the_shack.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Image Source<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Some things will never, ever be cool.\u00a0 And one of those things is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/rebranding-failures-2010-3#radio-shack-tries-really-really-hard-to-be-hip-with-the-shack-4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Radio Shack<\/a>.\u00a0 Don\u2019t get me wrong.\u00a0 We all love Radio Shack, the strip mall fixture which has dutifully provided us with batteries and clock radios throughout our lives, but it\u2019s never going to be a very glamorous shopping experience.\u00a0 There are too many men with cell phone holsters on their belts in those stores for one thing.<\/p>\n<p>But everyone just wants to be popular and Radio Shack is no exception.\u00a0 Of late Radio Shack has begun rebranding itself as \u201cThe Shack.\u201d\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Well, no one really knows.\u00a0 Perhaps it does sound a little cooler, but it also sounds more like a smoothie stand than an electronics distributor and does a place that already suffers from a reputation of being cheaper and less reliable than stores like \u201cBest Buy,\u201d really want to conjure the image of a ramshackle hut in every single ad they put out?<\/p>\n<h2>McDonald&#8217;s<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-39841 lazyload\" title=\"mcdonalds\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/mcdonalds.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"237\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/mcdonalds.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/mcdonalds-300x142.jpg 300w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 500px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 500\/237;\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/houstontruckdeals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/ConocoPhillips2.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Image Source<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/andrewteman.org\/blog\/2005\/01\/26\/mcdonalds-wants-you-to-fck-its-sandwiches\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Double Cheeseburger<\/a>?\u00a0 I\u2019d Hit It.<\/p>\n<p>So began a less than popular ad campaign released by McDonald\u2019s in 2005.\u00a0 Don\u2019t these people learn?\u00a0 &#8220;Ba-da-ba-ba-ba I\u2019m lovin\u2019 it&#8221; made McDonald\u2019s food sound good.\u00a0 Before it completely erased the Justin Timberlake association with its own brand associations, that bit of jingle had us thinking that McDonald\u2019s food was the kind of thing a hot male popstar\u2019s heart would yearn for.\u00a0 After that we just knew that we wanted fries.<\/p>\n<p>But what about \u201cI\u2019d Hit It\u201d coupled with the smirking image of a 27 year old man with a ratty haircut?\u00a0 Does that make someone want fries?\u00a0 Who wouldn\u2019t this dude hit it with?<\/p>\n<p>The problem with this ad is that it\u2019s just too real.\u00a0 Most of us don\u2019t want to eat nasty, cheap, fatty McDonald\u2019s food, but as we cruise down the highway late at night or walk home from the bars at 4 AM and pass those Golden Arches, we know that we would\u2026 and will\u2026 hit that.<\/p>\n<p>But advertisements are about fantasy, so let\u2019s stick with the idea that a Big Mac is something worth singing a love song to.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Share In today&#8217;s wacky world of advertising and rampant consumerism, a company must forever be changing in order to stay cutting edge. Attention spans grow shorter everyday, no thanks to the visual rape we are incessantly faced with; a constant barrage of billboards, taxi ads, commercials, YouTube commercials, popups on every website, and even plastered [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":39846,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[77,8394,7202,5305],"class_list":{"0":"post-39835","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-branding","9":"tag-marketing","10":"tag-mistakes","11":"tag-toparticles"},"acf":[],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/74"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businesspundit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}