Terrible Ads

In late November 2019 Peloton, the in-home exercise bike company, released an ad to spur holiday sales. But by December 6th the backlash from the ad was so bad that it caused the stock to drop 15% and wipe out nearly $900 million worth of company value.This is the story behind the now infamous Peloton ad “The Gift The Gives Back” and story behind the company and actors involved.Written and produced by Ben SilversteinMusic provided by BenSound.com, Filmstro.com, and FilmMusic.ioLicense: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)Terrible Ads is brought to you by AdCoach.co. AdCoach is an elearning platform for Advertising professionals. Terrible Ads listeners can save 15% on all classes by using code BADADS at checkout.Support the show (https://adcoach.co/)

On January 31st 2007 Boston residents started noticing strange looking devices on their local train stations and near some bridges. By 9am on that morning the Boston Police Department’s bomb squad received a phone call from the MBTA requesting their assistance in identifying a device. By 10am the device was destroyed in a controlled explosion.Before the day was over more devices would be identified throughout Boston and city officials and residents alike were trying to figure out what was going on.But some younger residents knew what was going on from the start. Fans of the Adult Swim show Aqua Teen Hunger Force recognized the figures depicted in the devices as the Mooninites, a recurring character in the late-night cartoon.This is the story of Boston Mooninite Panic, and how Adult Swim’s guerilla ad campaign caused a bomb scare throughout the city of Boston.Written and produced by Ben SilversteinMusic provided by BenSound.com, Filmstro.com, and FilmMusic.ioLicense: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)Terrible Ads is brought to you by AdCoach.co. AdCoach is an elearning platform for Advertising professionals. Terrible Ads listeners can save 15% on all classes by using code BADADS at checkout.Support the show (https://adcoach.co/)

In 1981 American Airlines was hurting for money. They had just posted a loss of $76 million the previous year, and were dealing with increased competition and lower airline ticket prices. In order to get some much needed capital, they started offering a pass for unlimited first class travel for life. But by 2008 they were revoking passes and suing passengers. This is the story of the rise and fall of the American Airlines Unlimited Lifetime Pass. Written and produced by Ben SilversteinMusic provided by BenSound.com, Filmstro.com, and FilmMusic.ioLicense: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)Terrible Ads is brought to you by AdCoach.co. AdCoach is an elearning platform for Advertising professionals. Terrible Ads listeners can save 15% on all classes by using code BADADS at checkout.Buzzsprout Link - New Users Get a $20 Amazon Gift Card: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=647883Support the show (https://adcoach.co/)

In 2007 Quiznos’ Subs had over 4,700 locations across the United States. By 2017 that number had shrunk to less than 400 and the company was bankrupt. As is the case with any major business collapse, there are a multitude of factors that contributed to their demise, including a leveraged buyout and the 2008 recession. However, a couple years before things started taking a turn for the worse Quiznos’ introduced the world to one of the worst, yet memorable ad campaigns:The Spongmonkeys (yes, that is their actual name).This is the story of the Spongmonkeys, how they made their way into a national ad campaign, and their eventual way into meme culture.Terrible Ads is brought to you by AdCoach.co. AdCoach is an elearning platform for Advertising professionals. Terrible Ads listeners can save 15% on all classes by using code BADADS at checkout.Buzzsprout Link - New Users Get a $20 Amazon Gift Card: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=647883Support the show (https://adcoach.co/)

In 1985 the Coca-Cola company was losing ground to rival Pepsi. Coke had to do something drastic to win back consumers and in their mind that thing was taste. On April 23, 1985 Coke introduced the world to New Coke. But by June of that same year they were fielding over 8,000 angry phone calls a day and by July the product was pulled. So what went wrong? How did Coke make such a massive mistake?Written and produced by Ben SilversteinMusic provided by BenSound.com, Filmstro.com, and FilmMusic.ioLicense: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)Terrible Ads is brought to you by AdCoach.co. AdCoach is an elearning platform for Advertising professionals. Terrible Ads listeners can save 15% on all classes by using code BADADS at checkout.Buzzsprout Link - New Users Get a $20 Amazon Gift Card: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=647883Support the show (https://adcoach.co/)

In April 2017 Pepsi released an ad called “Live For Now” featuring one of the most popular models in the world, Kendall Jenner. The ad was designed to show the world how even though we may be divided in political beliefs, we can all bond over the taste of a cold Pepsi. However, the ad was met with such harsh backlash that Pepsi pulled it within 1 day.This is the story of how Pepsi sought to be ‘woke’ in a tense political climate and how they missed the mark so very badly.Written and produced by Ben SilversteinMusic provided by BenSound.com, Filmstro.com, and FilmMusic.ioLicense: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)Terrible Ads is brought to you by AdCoach.co. AdCoach is an elearning platform for Advertising professionals. Terrible Ads listeners can save 15% on all classes by using code BADADS at checkout.Buzzsprout Link - New Users Get a $20 Amazon Gift Card: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=647883Support the show (https://adcoach.co/)

Every year over $200 billion is spent on advertising in the U.S. alone. Most of these ad campaigns are wildly ignored or missed by the general public, and many of them still accomplish their goal of drumming up business for their respective companies. However, sometimes an ad campaign falls flat. And sometimes an ad campaign is so bad that not only does it not help grow business, it can actually hurt business.In Terrible Ads we take a look at some of these massive marketing failures, and story behind them. Rarely, if ever, is just one person responsible for a multi million dollar mistake, so we dig into the story to find all the players involved, what they were thinking, and what the final product actually looked like.So join us as we explore the stories behind some of the worst ads of all time. This is, Terrible Ads.Terrible Ads is brought to you by AdCoach.co. AdCoach is an elearning platform for Advertising professionals. Terrible Ads listeners can save 15% on all classes by using code BADADS at checkout.Support the show (https://adcoach.co/)