73 Companies That Tried Way Too Hard To Prove They Were Cool

We live in an attention economy, where brands will do anything and everything to get you to spend time looking at (and clicking on) their ads. They have to be willing to make bold choices to grab the attention of consumers. Because of this, many resort to using trendy TikTok lingo, making their own versions of popular memes, and hopping on the bandwagon of any viral trend. 

Sometimes, their attempts are successful. And other times, they go down in cringe history, as consumers decide that they have absolutely no interest in seeing big corporations cosplay regular people online.  

There are certain companies that have somehow managed to masterfully pull off a social media presence that both entertains and amuses followers. Duolingo is one of the most famous examples of this. For years, the brand has been sharing hilarious memes and posts that seem, for lack of a better word, unprofessional.

They’re not scared to hop on viral trends or post like they’re a Gen Z intern who’s getting paid in iced matchas. Their social media presence often has an “Idgaf” attitude, and they post hilarious videos that might even alienate certain audiences. For example, this video of the owl wearing a bra and underwear… But their TikTok account has over 18 million followers, so clearly, they’re doing something right.

Another brand that has mastered the social media game is Ryanair. This budget airline that is known for strict policies and low fares has become quite the star online. Because Ryanair often gets made fun of on social media for its policies, it decided to give customers a taste of their own medicine. They’re not afraid to roast customers or make self-aware jokes about how strict their rules are. They also make plenty of culturally relevant yet hilarious jokes and are quick to jump on any viral trend. 

As we can see from this list, companies don’t always stick the landing when attempting to relate to customers. Take McDonald’s, for example. Earlier this year, the fast food giant released a video of their CEO “taste testing” their new Big Arch burger. This was clearly an attempt to prove how delicious the product was, but it failed spectacularly. It did generate lots of buzz online, so maybe in that regard, it was a success. But most of the talk about the video was simply mocking the CEO, rather than discussions about how great the burger looked.

There are many reasons why it might be hard for companies to relate to consumers. On one hand, the marketing team may be a completely different demographic than the people that they’re trying to sell to. If they all drive supercars and have hired help that does their grocery shopping for them, they might struggle to post content that’s relatable to the average person. At the same time, customers are tired of ads that feel like ads. They want to see messaging that feels genuine, not scripted or fake. 

Vanderbilt University even published a piece about the “high cost of cringeworthy marketing,” breaking down why certain corporate ads epically failed after being released to the public. Remember Pepsi’s 2017 “Live for Now” ad, which featured Kendall Jenner handing a police officer a can of soda? It implied that this small act could resolve racial tension in the United States. Unsurprisingly, it was extremely ill-received. And Pepsi lost nearly $100 million in production costs and media spending after the ad was pulled in less than 24 hours. 

Another ad campaign that went viral for being extremely hated was Peloton’s 2019 “The Gift That Gives Back” campaign. This featured a husband gifting his wife a Peloton bike for Christmas and then detailing her fitness journey over the following year. It was deemed cringeworthy, insensitive, and sexist, and Peloton’s stock price fell by over 10% after it was released. 

Are you enjoying these absolutely awful examples of how to market a brand or product, pandas? Keep upvoting the pics that make you cringe, and let us know in the comments what the worst examples you’ve ever seen of corporate fails were. Then, if you’d like to check out another article from Bored Panda featuring embarrassing corporate fails, look no further than right here!