Do you guys remember "balloon boy?" He and his family are my most vivid memory of a PR stunt gone wrong - and WOW it went way wrong - but probably not in the way you think.
The story most of us know is that the family faked the boy accidentally taking off in a home-made balloon when he had been hiding in the attic the whole time. They were turned into memes, there was jail time involved, and tons of fines. That all sounds pretty bad, but it turns out that story may be a PR spin in and of itself.
There's evidence to suggest the whole thing was a legitimate accident and the family really didn't know the boy wasn't in the balloon, but the city needed to save face. That "saving face" involved threats of deportation (mom is Japanese), tormenting the family with endless interrogation, separating the children and questioning them illegally, and divulging false information to the media. For example, police officers told reporters that the family called the news stations for attention and then called the police. Records prove that the family first called military air service, then the police and called the media last - they were trying to secure a helicopter that could track the balloon. There's a lot more to the story, but we might never know the truth; only that it was a PR disaster the whole way around.
Reddit user u/Swordsy50 asked:
What's the best(worst) public relations stunt you've seen?
Kick back and enjoy some serious shenanigans, courtesy of Reddit and corporate fail whale fantasticness.
LifeLock
When LifeLock's CEO put his social security number on the side of a truck to show how secure their service was.
He ended up getting his identity stolen 13 times and the company got fined 12 million dollars for deceptive advertising.
- BoiNil
That Backfired Quickly
I'd have to go with the time Bill Cosby's twitter account tried to get people to turn his face into a meme. The linked a meme generator with a picture of Cosby's face. This resulted in #cosbymeme with lots of posts about his assault allegations, which were really coming to a head right around the same time.
- othybear
A Jet
Has to be the Pepsi Points / Harrier Jet situation.
Pepsi had one of those "points" promotions going in the 90s (collect points, redeem them for crap). Pepsi had an ad that said that for 7,000,000 Pepsi points, you could get a Harrier jet. The jet was worth ~$33m . The contest rules said you could buy points for 10 cents a piece. Sooo, for a cool $700k, you could potentially get the jet.
Someone tried to do just that, and sued when Pepsi wouldn't comply
- frnoss
Kendall Jenner's Shameful Secret
That new-ish Proactive campaign with Kendall Jenner. She pretended to have some dark, shameful secret and revealing it was going to be this big, empowering thing. Then the day came and it turned out she just had acne. That was easily the dumbest thing I've ever seen.
Taylor Swift
When Taylor Swift let the internet vote on what school she would perform at, and the top voted school was "Horace Mann School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing."
Taylor Swift discussed doing a gig, but between her and the school decided to donate money instead, she also gave the students of the school tickets for her next local concert. So all in all a pretty good reaction to a bit of internet trolling and a win for all concerned :)
Balloons
Balloon Fest in Cleveland in 1986 put on by United Way. Who knew that launching 1.5 million balloons would cause havoc around the city and lead to two deaths? There was a boat accident and authorities couldn't find the survivors because the balloons covered the water.
- Ersh777
Dan v. Dave
Reebok launched the "Dan vs Dave" campaign in the 90's for the Olympics hyping up who is the greatest athlete in the world Dan O'Brien or Dave Johnson. The commercials were non stop. They were decathlon athletes and clear favorites. It was always a major risk to sink so much time and money into a sport barely anyone watched. It became a nightmare for Reebok when O'Brien failed to even qualify to make the Olympics. Johnson only won bronze.
Just Guess
That time Snapple tried to have a fucking world record sized popsicle in NYC in the beginning of summer?
Guess what happened. Just guess.
An article about it said:
"What was unsettling was that the fluid just kept coming," Stuart Claxton of the Guinness Book of World Records told the Daily News. "It was quite a lot of fluid. On a hot day like this, you have to move fast."
I'm f*cking crying, that sounds equal parts horrifying and incredibly funny.
- Ulti
Wrong Casey
Telstra (Australian phone company), promoting Australian Idol winner, Casey Donovan, by linking to her website caseydonovan.com.au except they left off the au suffix and it introduced thousands of teenage fans to the world of gay US porn star Casey Donovan.
Not For Women
Anyone else remember Dr. Pepper's bizarre "It's Not for Women." campaign? They were trying to corner the men's diet soft drink market, so for their new product Dr. Pepper Ten, their ad campaign literally just explicitly stated "It's Not for Women." Like dude, c'mon, I get you want to market toward men, by why blatantly alienate half of your potential customer base??
"Straight men of Reddit, what is the strangest thing you have been told not to do because 'that's gay?'"
The following behavior just screams, "gay," fellas. Watch out.
Song Choice
"Sing a Lily Allen song during karaoke."
– KentuckyFriedEel
School Protocol
"Advice I received in high school from other students:"
"Don't cross your legs with one knee over the other. Put one ankle over the other knee."
"When carrying books, palm them and carry them at your side. Don't rest one edge of the books near your waist."
"Never button the top button of your shirt."
– Gorf_the_Magnificent
Look, But Don't Look
"This one time, at summer camp, this guy who'd just been swimming in the lake told me you could tell how cold the water was by how hard his nipples were. 'But don't stare too long,' he said, 'because that's gay.'"
"You were the one who told me to look in the first place!"
– SonOfTheShire
Sandwich For Sissies
"When I was a kid, my dad called me a sissy because I cut a sandwich diagonally."
– captainmagictrousers
Getting Woodwind
"I played the clarinet. I got called Faginet a lot."
– Virtual_Caramell
"But that's one women do," one might argue.
Daddy Duty
"Changing my daughter's diaper. Mentioned it in the office one day. Called gay."
– Bullydaddy
A Lighter Shade
"Buying a white IPhone."
– Freshrendar
"Added my husband (then boyfriend) to my phone plan. Went to the store on my own to upgrade both our phones. We both just wanted the next gen Samsung. It was only available in purplish-pink in store."
"I shrugged and said it didn't matter, he's putting a case on it anyways. Guys working at the store kept trying to talk me out of it, actively pushing me to go to another store, making them lose commission, just so my partner wouldn't have a feminine phone. He used his pink phone for 3 years."
– Caity26
Life Skills
"I've been criticized for knowing how to sew and cook. Those are essential life skills!"
– placeholderNull
"My father was a Marine drill instructor in the 50's. Guess who did all the sewing in my house growing up?"
"Yeah, no one dared to call him gay for it."
– desrever1138
Here are examples of guidelines for being a manly man, according to manly men.
Manly Appetite
"Not a straight man but... back in my bartending days I asked a man if he wanted to see a dessert menu. He said 'if I wanted dessert I'd order wings like a real man.'"
"Weird flex but okay."
– BigJiggies
When I'm In The Mood, I Masticate
"When I'm feeling extra manly, I just take a bite out of a cow and then chew on some raw wheat."
"Like a man."
– AmigoDelDiabla
No Appointments Necessary For Straight Men
"I left a pick-up basketball game because I had an appointment to get a haircut. Evidently, the only straight way to get a haircut is as a walk in."
– patricksaurus
Abiding By The Law Is So Gay
"Using turn signals. And not as some sort of euphemism, but literally using them while driving to turn or change lanes."
– Sargatanus
In grade school, some fellow classmates asked me to check for gum on my shoe because they saw me step in some.
When I lifted my leg to take a gander, the boys were howling hysterically as if my actions confirmed something.
Well, it sure did. Apparently, if I l looked at the bottom of my shoe from in front of me, I was "normal," but since I bent my leg back and looked at the bottom of my shoe from behind, that made me "so gay."
Although, I didn't come out 'til years later, maybe those goons were onto something. Thanks for the heads up, guys.
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