I bet it’s happened to you. You’re watching the TV and after watching a commercial you wonder “where did that even come from?” or “what was the advertisement about?” Far from being rare, this happens quite often.

Are you listening to your own messaging? Are you putting yourself in the shoes of your customers? If not, either your message goes unnoticed, or worse, you make a blunder so large that the message you were trying to send passes completely under the radar amidst a huge PR disaster.

Several high-profile cases come to mind for such errors. These blunders are a critical learning experience for business owners. Let’s go over a few of them and see what they could have done differently.

H&M

In 2018, H&M came under fire after releasing an ad that featured an African-American model wearing a sweatshirt with the phrase “Coolest Monkey in the Jungle” on the front. The ad was deemed racist as the word monkey is considered a racial slur against people of African descent.

This prompted public outcry, with some influential figures like the Weekend and G-Eazy cutting ties with the company. The clothing retailer even hard to close some stores in South Africa following protests by members of the Economic Freedom Fighters.

H&M took prompt actions to make up for its mistake, including issuing a public apology and hiring a diversity leader. Despite this, the company still took a substantial financial hit, not to mention a huge blow to its reputation. All this could have been avoided if they had taken the time to evaluate how different audiences could have possibly interpreted the ad.

Pepsi

Pepsi ran a controversial ad in 2017 featuring Kendal Jenner interrupting a police brutality protest by giving one of the officers a Pepsi in hopes of forming a truce between law enforcement and the protesters.

While Pepsi intended to promote the end of police brutality, that’s not what the public saw. Many interpreted this ad as trivializing police brutality, while others criticized the companies for trying to capitalize on imagery imitating protests in the Black Live Matter Movement.

In addition, given that Kendal Jenner (a white woman) was the main model, some felt that the advertisement lacked diversity and ignored the black woman’s role in resisting injustice.

The company achieved the opposite of what it had intended. Pepsi issued a public apology in less than 24-hours, but its consumer perception levels dropped to their lowest in over ten years.

Reebok

Controversial marketing campaigns didn’t start today. Back in 2005, Reebok was accused of glorifying gun violence and painting violence as acceptable. In this advert, hip-hop rapper 50 Cent is sitting in a dark room counting to nine for the number of times he has been shot before. If this wasn’t enough, the ad featured screams and sirens and blaring in the background. To add insult to injury, in the end, the rapper smiles and stares at the camera while a voice asks, “Tell me, who do you plan to massacre next?”

The ad was quite confusing, and it is hard to determine what the company’s original goal was. While it might not have been intentional, Reebok’s ad was inherently problematic. Other than glorifying gun violence, some critics also felt that it painted 50 Cent’s life as inspirational for the wrong reasons and could potentially encourage young viewers to embrace violence.

Reebok ultimately pulled the ad but attempted to frame the controversy as a debate over freedom of speech and expression.

How can jd-pROCYCLE help?

These scandals massively impacted the companies involved. These businesses had to work to not only rebuild their tarnished reputation but also recover their losses. All this could have been avoided in a number of ways:

    1. Clear, defined messaging

    Any great marketing messaging should unequivocally represent the values of the company. Effective messaging compels your prospective clients to actually listen to your intended message – no gimmicks necessary.

    2. Listening to customers, and anticipating their reactions

    At jdp we always put the focus on communication with the customer first. Large businesses run into trouble because they’re too focused on spicing up their “brand” and they lose sight of who they are trying to connect with.

    3. Improved inter-departmental communication channels

    It’s hard to believe that if these huge brands didn’t have better internal communication, someone would have caught the blunder before public release. Improved communication doesn’t mean just increasing the number of interdepartmental meetings, it’s about making sure you create a culture where people on all levels are able to speak up and have their voices heard.

    Furthermore, improved communication ensures that messaging sent out to your clients from all departments is consistent (see point 1.)

jd-pROCYCLE is all about making everything in your business work as one moving part so that systems run smoothly, errors are minimized and communication both internally and with customers prioritized.

To find out more on how jd-pROCYCLE can help you connect with your customers and stay relevant in today’s highly competitive market, visit our page here or get in touch today for a free no-obligation consultation.