Here are a few of the stranger things companies have done!
9 - Northwest When companies lay off employees, they usually
just let the employees go annnnd that’s it.
For Northwest Airlines, a company now absorbed by Delta, they felt REALLY bad about having
to let go of a part of their workforce.
So they decided to pass along some money saving tips to their newly laid off employees!
That didn’t go well at all.
They had to apologize to workers offended by company suggestions on how to save money.
Some of the suggestions on the list included buying auto parts at junkyards, and taking
shorter showers!
The list was titled "101 Ways to Save Money," and was part of a booklet for laid off employees.
Northwest gave out 60 of the booklets before angry employees started complaining.
The 165-page booklet was created for Northwest by an employee-assistance company called NEAS.
Part of the booklet dealt with coping with job loss, options for job transfers within
Northwest and relocation advice.
But the other half was where allllll the life wisdom was.
Some more suggestions on the money-saving idea list included giving homemade cards and
gifts, asking doctors for prescription drug samples, and borrowing clothes for a big night
out.
Our favorite suggestion?
This was a real suggestion in the booklet.
"Don't be shy about pulling something you like out of the trash".
Maybe just a quick reminder on not spending money would have been more than enough!
8 - Space World One Japanese theme park decided to freeze
5,000 animals INTO the floor of an ice rink because they thought their customers would
like it?
At Japan’s Space World theme park, fish, crab, and other shellfish were frozen into
the ice as part of a special winter attraction called the "Freezing Port”.
The park advertised it as a world first and posted images of the fish on its official
Facebook site.
The captions for the pics basically made fun of the freezing fish.
The reaction on social media was bad.
The theme park managers were surprised to hear that people weren’t happy with freezing
a bunch of fish to the floor!
Even though the ice rink had been a very popular attraction before the freezing of the fish.
So the promotion really wasn’t necessary.
After the public backlash, they decided to shut it down for a bit.
The park unfroze the skating rink to remove the fish and promised to hold an appropriate
religious service for the fish.
Well, at least the fish were purchased at a local fish market, so the fish had already
met their end earlier!
7 - Pepsi You get a million!
YOU get a million!
Everyone gets a million!!!!
Back in 1992, Pepsi had accidentally announced the wrong winning number in the Philippines
to their “Number Fever” contest to win a million Pesos.
There was supposed to be only ONE 1-million-peso winner, or roughly 40 thousand US dollars
back then.
But up to 800 THOUSAND bottle caps marked with the winning number of “349” were
printed by accident!
Tens of thousands of Filipinos thought that they had won a million pesos, and they soon
began demanding money that Pepsi refused to pay.
When mobs formed after the bottle-cap error was announced, frightened executives decided
to offer $20 dollars worth of pesos to anyone with a 349 cap.
Obviously, the winners weren’t having it.
Pepsi records show that at least 32 delivery trucks were vandalized.
Armed men had also vandalized Pepsi plants and offices.
Criminal and civil claims were also filed against Pepsi all across the Philippines.
Pepsi, which budgeted only $2 million for prizes, instead eventually paid out $10 million
dollars more for what it calls a quote "goodwill gesture."
6 - Colgate When we think of Colgate, we think of a clean,
fresh mouth.
We don’t think of yummy dinners.
And that's pretty much the biggest reason why Colgate's line of frozen dinners totally
flopped.
So why did Colgate want to enter the frozen dinner section?
In the late 70s and the early 80s, microwaves had become a huge seller throughout the US.
As a result, companies wanted to make sure they were onto this trend.
Colgate wanted another product line, so they came up with “Colgate Kitchen Entrees.”
The meals came in lots of different varieties but they were pretty similar to what the competition
offered.
If they had come up with food that’d actually clean our teeth at the same time, that’d
be a different story!
Colgate believed they could out-market their competition.
The company invested a HUGE amount of money on TV, radio, and print ads, and gave out
a large number of coupons.
But it still wasn’t enough for their frozen dinners to catch on.
The “Colgate” brand was way too strong.
It scared off consumers who couldn’t get past the idea of their dinner tasting like
toothpaste.
Why didn’t Colgate just come up with another brand name?
Colgate Kitchen Entrees quickly disappeared from the freezer section, never to be seen
again.
And Colgate probably prefers it that way.
When one artist wanted to include Colgate in his collection of “Museum of Failures,”
Colgate declined to provide an exhibit!
5 - Dove Back in 2017, Dove had to apologize for yet
another weird ad.
This ad was created specifically for social media accounts, and it was a quick three second
GIF that promoted Dove’s body wash.
It showed a black woman peeling off a dark shirt and transforming into a white woman
in a beige shirt, and then the white woman peels off HER shirt to reveal…...another
white woman.
What do you think the ad was supposed to mean?
The response on social media wasn’t pleasant, with many people questioning why Dove would
feature the black woman first.
Dove issued a separate statement saying that the ad didn’t represent the diversity of
real beauty.
And that was the essence of the ad.
Dove claimed that diversity of real beauty was something that they had been trying to
show for years.
4 - Snapple In the summer of 2005, Snapple wanted to break
the world record for the world’s largest popsicle to celebrate its then newest flavor,
kiwi strawberry.
Snapple mixed and froze a giant icy popsicle in this brand new flavor.
The frozen popsicle was then hauled by a freezer truck from New Jersey to New York City.
But...of course…..it started melting.
Snapple officials first started to worry when pink liquid began to flow freely onto East
17th Street.
They were afraid that cyclists and automobiles would slip in the slippery melting syrup!
Fire trucks had to be called in and the police closed off a few streets to contain the melting
popsicle.
Snapple officials decided to stop raising the popsicle after getting it to a 25-degree
angle.
Doing it in the middle of winter probably would have gotten Snapple the record.
But then again, if they were planning on serving the popsicle afterwards, who would want a
popsicle in the middle of winter?!
3 - Adidas Ahhh fashion.
Ever heard of it?!
Sometimes certain things are too ridiculous even for the fashion world and that’s certainly
the case here.
Back In 2012, Adidas had to withdraw its plans to sell a controversial sneaker that featured
rubber shackles.
Really, who wants to look like a prisoner?
Adidas caught plenty of flak after showing off the shoe on its Facebook page.
The sneakers were called the JS Roundhouse Mids.
"Got a sneaker game so hot you lock your kicks to your ankles?" was the caption below the
photo of the shoes on Facebook.
The shoe was designed by renowned fashion designer Jeremy Scott.
Adidas dismissed the criticism in a written statement saying that the shoe was meant to
be a unique take on fashion.
Scott said that his work has always been inspired by cartoons, toys, and his childhood."
He attached a photo for the inspiration of the shoe, a "My Pet Monster", which is a bright,
plush character with its wrists shackled.
Yeah, anything in fashion involving shackles is gonna create a controversy, no matter what
the inspiration!
2 - Heinz In 2015, Heinz faced worldwide embarrassment
when a German customer scanned a QR code on the back of a bottle and was directed to a
not safe for work website!
Daniel Korrel scanned the company’s promotional QR code only to find out that the link had
expired.
The code normally would have sent someone a promotional site run by Heinz.
But when the promotion expired, so did the link.
Korrel quickly reported the incident through the company’s Facebook page.
Heinz quickly corrected the situation and redirected the link to its website.
They also arranged the delivery of another ketchup bottle to Korrel and issued an apology
for the outdated QR code and website link!
That link was initially planned as part of a promotion to design a Ketchup label.
Seriously though, why would they send only one bottle?
Thank goodness for Heinz, not too many people were exposed to the mishap, because really,
no one really scanned QR codes back then!
1 - Burger King Russia In 2018, Burger King decided to run a whopper
promotion in Russia . Not just any whopper promotion, but a short-lived promotion that
offered money and a lifetime of free Whoppers to women who uh….got a special gift from
World Cup stars!
And by that we meant a very special gift.
We think you know what we mean.
There seriously was a room full of executives that reviewed this campaign and said okay
to this campaign?!
The promo promised an award of 3 million Russian rubles or roughly 46 thousand dollars, along
with a lifetime supply of Whoppers to any woman who was able to get the task done.
According to the Burger King ad, that would lay the foundation for the Russian team’s
own success several generations ahead!