Even the sharpest brands can make ill-advised mistakes that alienate their core customers and tarnish their image. From changes in product focus to misjudged ads, its all to easy to make a wrong step, and four big brands stood out as prime examples of branding fails in 2024.
It's sometimes hard to say if a brand campaign was really a mistake. The fact that people criticise a design or an ad on social media doesn't mean it failed. Sometimes brands court controversy precisely to get people talking. The crticism will ebb away and what people will remember is the brand name.
And sometimes the controversy is an accidental bonus. Take the Wicked poster design controversy. The unexpectedly harsh criticism was harmless and may have even benefited the movie by generating more conversation ahead of its release. But things veer beyond beneficial bad publicity into brand damage territory when a campaign contradicts a hard-earned brand image or provokes the ire of a core group of customers.
Being one of the first big brands to use AI video generation for an ad campaign guaranteed headlines, ensuring more coverage than it would have got by repeating the same classic 'Holidays are Coming' ad it had been using for 30 years, but Coca-Cola's AI Christmas ad was a messy and risky move.
Firstly, a lot people really hate AI – enough to take the conscious decision not to buy Coca-Cola because of an ad. Secondly, AI video is still a glitchy cheap-looking mess. Even the Coca-Cola logo got messed up in the ad. What sets Coca-Cola above generics if it doesn't care about its own brand? But worst of all, the 'artificial' in 'artificial intelligence' directly contradicts years of brand positioning around the concept of authenticity, first as 'It's the Real Thing' and more recently 'Real Magic'. Also by using AI, the brand was also just opening itself to pastiches and mockery.
My Music Evolution created AI-generated titles as part of Spotify Wrapped (Image credit: Spotify)
It felt like Spotify was getting desperate in 2024. The company changed the way people consume music by making on-demand streaming practical and convenient, but its expansion into podcasts and video content to try to compete with the likes of YouTube could see it lose its way.
As reported by the Verge, there have already been complaints of porn videos cropping up in search results. The platform's also been alienating users with creepy AI hosts for Spotify Wrapped and an infuriating UI change. To top it off, it's been claimed that the brand has been stifling criticism of its business model by taking legal action to shut down the protest website Spotify Unwrapped, which aimed to highlight how little Spotify pays artists.
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It can be hard for a dating app to get the right tone, but Bumble had been doing it... until its controversial 'anti-celibacy' ads. Alongside a video about a nun who falls for a hunky gardener, the campaign featured billboards with phrases like "You know full well a vow of celibacy is not the answer".
The campaign got people talking, but it trashed Bumble's reputation as a sensitive dating app that empowered women and promoted safe and healthy connections. The response was so negative that Bumble withdrew the ads and issued an apology.
Finally, Apple was another big brand that alienated core parts of its customer base in 2024, again as a result of some poorly considered advertising. A brand normally known for its originality promoted the power and slimness of its latest iPad Pro by copying an old LG advert and crushing a whole bunch of creative tools.
"The destruction of the human experience. Courtesy of Silicon Valley," the actor Hugh Grant tweeted about the ad. "THIS SHIT IS ACTUALLY PSYCHOTIC," the Handmaid’s Tale director Reed Morano wrote more bluntly. It was a strange misstep for a brand that's used emotional branding so astutely over the years.
And just when we things couldn't get any worse, Apple went an offended an entire nation with a stereotype-ridden ad set in Thailand. This time it apologised and deleted the ad.
Dear Apple I've been a big fan of your commercials and Mac since 90s.But it won't be like that anymore!!Thanks for making my country look like the 3rd world in the 80s.What the Fu_k is wrong with you, Apple?“กด Dislike และ Report มันบนYTกันดีมั้ย?”#AppleAd #AppleThailand pic.twitter.com/OUlqnp9qrhJuly 27, 2024
Another obvious candidate for this list could be the Jaguar rebrand, but I'm reserving judgement because this is a case where the negative reaction could end up paying off.
It's true that it made have alienated traditional customer base, but that traditional audience is almost certainly not the segment the carmaker is aiming at with its upcoming electric vehicles. If the aim of the rebrand was to get people's attention, then it's worked phenomenally well. More people will be watching when Jaguar gets around to releasing new cars, and only when we see the product will we know if the rebrand was a hit or miss.
Joe is a regular freelance journalist and editor at Creative Bloq. He writes news, features and buying guides and keeps track of the best equipment and software for creatives, from video editing programs to monitors and accessories. A veteran news writer and photographer, he now works as a project manager at the London and Buenos Aires-based design, production and branding agency Hermana Creatives. There he manages a team of designers, photographers and video editors who specialise in producing visual content and design assets for the hospitality sector. He also dances Argentine tango.
