Posts in Funny Marketing
Starbucks Race Campaign - A Bad Idea From the Start

Look, I have to say first that I like the idea of the program; I just don’t like how it was done, whom it was done by or why they did it. Make sense? More discussion about racial equality is a huge hot button right now, and it needs to be brought to the forefront, but why Starbucks?

I have to question the entire thought process with my top reasons that the program didn’t make sense. Not reasons why it didn’t work, but why would you do it in the first place?

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Stop Craving the 8-Hour Work Week

When did working hard start going out of style? We feel sorry for those people who bust their buts, putting the extra time and extra mile to set themselves apart. Sure, there’s plenty to say about abusive work environments, but that’s not what I’m talking about here. What I’m questioning is our destructive culture of wanting to get as much as possible for the least amount of effort.

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Nestea - Because Screw 'Em!

I caught the most recent Nestea commercial on TV the other day, and the 15 second product spot perplexed me enough to comment. I’ll provide the link here, but I’ll give a breakdown of how I took it.

A Pretty although somewhat homely girl turns to arms-length guy and says, “Jake, I love you.”

Completely plain and unmemorable male actor replies, “I, uhhh. (undecipherable moaning)”

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Red Bull - Gives you Wings?...

The recent lawsuit brought back old marketing discussions I used to have about Red Bull. Though I’m not going into detail about the legal case here, it was interesting to note that the overall underwhelming nature of the product was called into question. It doesn’t give you wings? We all knew that, but it’s complete underperformance compared to the competition is an interesting topic to explore, particularly with the product’s popularity.

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Old Spice and the Doom of Advertising

“To you marketers, the greatest burden of your generation will be the Old Spice ads.”

This was proclaimed at a lunch and learn some time ago, with some guy I’ve forgotten, but I will remember his words. The brilliant idea propelling sales and reinvigorating the old man brand into a modern essential of the iconic bro culture was a catastrophe because of its success. 

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