“Can’t Stop Laughing At It”: 50 Hilariously Bad Advertising Fails (New Pics)

Thirteen experts from the Forbes Agency Council identify confusing and annoying content as the number one reason why advertising campaigns fail.

According to them, when messages feel scattered or dishonest, audiences quickly lose patience and trust.

Other major pitfalls include delivering campaigns in antagonistic environments that diminish user experience, attempting to exploit tragedies or political trends without careful thought, and relying on clickbait.

But internet ads have become especially irritating. It seems it's no longer possible to watch an online video or read an article without being interrupted every few seconds.

According to a survey from user-first media platform Picnic, in partnership with global public opinion company YouGov, two-thirds of people (70%) find digital advertising annoying and unpleasant, and 72% say that bad advertising experiences have negatively affected their perception of a brand.

When the respondents were asked to identify the most annoying user experience, most of them said it was "too many ads" (28%) and "blocked screen content" (28%), followed by accidental clicks (18%), slow loading speeds (12%), unstable page content (7%), and other (7%).

Other key findings from the survey include:

1. 66% say annoying or intrusive ad experiences reduce their trust in the brand advertising;
2. 71% agree that annoying or intrusive ad experiences make them less likely to purchase from that brand in the future;
3. 86% of people agree that too many ads on a webpage makes them feel overwhelmed and more likely to ignore the adverts;
4. 71% of people agree they’d have a more positive perspective of digital ads if they loaded quickly and didn’t force clicks or block content.

Some industry insiders are trying to shake off the blame. "With regulations limiting first-party data and platforms promoting broad targeting, many advertisers are forced to rely on poor-quality, unverified third-party data sources," says Anil Malhotra, CMO & co-founder of Bango, a technology company that specializes in helping businesses monetize digital content and services.

"This leaves them taking a spray and pray approach in hopes of connecting with new audiences."

But Malhotra agrees there has to be a better way. "Advertising must get adventurous again—trialling new innovations and targeting methods for their ads. The rewards for advertisers—and the brands they work for—will pay dividends in the form of increased customer loyalty."

Once you're done scrolling through this list, you can continue learning about ad fails by firing up our previous publications 40 Epic Advertising Fails That Probably Should Have Gotten Someone Fired and 50 Hilarious Advertising Fails You Might Find Hard To Believe Were Actually Approved.