Whether a result of poor judgment or an accident, these ads turned out roundly disastrous.
Some might say that all advertising is bad advertising. (Except for answering a quick two questions that protect high quality web content. Those are an abundantly fair trade-off. Ahem.)
But the pictures below are all examples of really bad advertising. Or badvertising, as no one calls it. Sometimes it’s poor judgment, sometimes it’s accidental, sometimes it’s both — and in every case, it’s a Don’t Buy.
Here are 11 photos of hilariously bad advertisements…
1 | Tired of working for $9.75 an hour?
I mean, in the ad’s defense, technically it IS offering a change in wages for people who are tired of making $9.75 an hour.
2 | The cell phone that floats on water
Let’s just hope it didn’t crush a fish like it crushed Dick Smith’s underlying premise.
3 | A truly *used* car
Things recently serviced in the car: 1. The engine. 2. Heh heh heh.
4 | Illegal Scam
What an unfortunate thing to name your illegal scam of a company.
5 | The secret ingredient at Hardee’s
See, I would’ve guessed the secret ingredient was horse or, at worst, newspaper. (Although I guess the sign doesn’t necessarily mean people are the only secret ingredient.)
6 | Just your classic pig cookies
Pig cookies are fine for “Merry Yule.” Pig cookies aren’t appropriate for Hanukkah. Pig cookies aren’t appropriate for Ramadan. As for the Ramada (Inn?), I’m not totally sure, but they’re probably cool with them.
7 | Delicious?
Man, if this church group is really charging $8 for pork pulled from $250 pigs, I hope people got on that. It’s hard to find that level of value these days.
8 | Everyday High Price!!
Did Whole Foods expand to Japan? Bam. Take that, grocery store I went to on Saturday.
9 | But how fresh are they?
I pulled this photo a while ago. As I was looking at it last night, trying to figure out why I’d put it in my “bad advertising” folder, I thought maybe it was the utterly confusing Coca-Cola and Sprite deal. (Is it even a deal? Maybe…?) And just as I was about to delete it for not quite being good enough to make this cut — ahh, there it was. Well played, bored intern.
10 | Set phasers to oops
Eh, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, what’s the difference? Am I right? (Ducks from angry person swinging light saber at my head.)
11 | Sign Up Now!
HARD pass.