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Biggest Brand Fails 2014


Liam Mannion - 23rd December 2014 - 0 comments

US Airways were merely dealing with a complaint from a customer on Twitter when out of the blue, they tweeted a graphic image of a woman and a toy plane. The tweet stayed live for an hour, garnering up over 500 retweets. This is how US Airways responded…

The #WhyIStayed was a moving campaign designed by victims of domestic abuse as to why they stayed in their relationships. DiGiorno misunderstood this and tweeted this below, causing outrage among Twitter.

Kurlon Mattresses, from India, caused outrage worldwide by depicting Malala Yousafzai, the young 16-year-old humanitarian rights protestor and Nobel Peace Prize nominee, being shot and bouncing back.

Instead of promoting “real beauty” – such as brands like Dove – Victoria’s Secret went for a campaign of slim, young girls and titled it “The perfect body”, sparking reactions like these from incensed customers.

This year, McDonalds introduced a new mascot which intended to make children “Happy”, mirroring its name. Instead, children were reported running away screaming in a unwanted turn of events. Here is their mascot below:

Urban Outfitters also caused havoc when they released a one of a kind “Kent State” jumper with what looks like red splashes across it. In 1970, the Ohio National guard fired at, and killed, four unarmed anti-war protesters. The jumper provoked a “Rage against the Urban Outiftters” campaign which quickly grew popularity.

Qantas Airlines reacted to their fleet being kept down by creating a hashtag of #QantasLuxury which asked customers to talk about how they were pampered on their airline. The tweet was then ridiculed by Twitter, such as the example below:

LG tried to poke fun at Apple during #bendgate, but this backfired when the insult they tweeted was in fact tweeted off an iPhone. This then caused the twitterverse to mock LG, rather than continue the tirade aimed at Apple.

Pizza Express popped up with this cringeworthy effort about the Royal baby birth. This effort was ignored by most, mainly so they wouldn’t have to witness it again.

No one on Twitter was sure what angle Whataburger were approaching #bendgate from, but all that is seen from this is one of their burgers looking less than tasty.

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