As human beings, we all make mistakes.
There’s certainly no guarantee that an advertising message will work.
For example, Pepsi released a commercial on April 4, 2017 featuring Kendal Jenner at a protest. Kendal moves to the front of the line and offers a Pepsi to a police officer as a peace offering. Viewers felt the ad was insensitive to the Black Lives Matter movement and that it portrayed a political protest as a party. Pepsi apologized and withdrew the commercial.
In 2013, Ford released a poster campaign in India for its Figo car, emphasizing its large trunk. There were caricatures of three bound and gagged women in the trunk and a caricature of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlesconi in the driver’s seat. Berlesconi was well-known for his many affairs and legal troubles. There was a huge public backlash and Ford’s marketing chief, Jim Farley, issued a formal public apology after pulling the ad. Several executives were fired at the advertising agency, J. Walter Thompson, India.
During April, 2015 Bud Light added this tagline to the labels on its bottles of beer: “The perfect beer for removing NO from your vocabulary for the right night # up for whatever.” Customers complained it appeared the tagline was promoting date rape, including disregarding whether a partner consented to sex. Bud Light immediately apologized and pulled the change to the label.
Did these companies fold or stop advertising after these failed campaigns?
No. They simply apologized and moved on to the next campaign.
Failures are a fact of life in business marketing. Sometimes we miss the “hidden offensive meaning” that our customers see.
We have to simply clean up the mess and move on.