marketing

Every industry has its sketchy secrets, and once tons of companies realized they could use their popular brand to leverage their loyal customer base into paying more for less, you can find yourself looking at a creme egg going "whhaaaaa???". It's also easy to fall into the nostalgia trap of "remember the better olden days" when that product wasn't much better to start with, but shrinkflation has definitely attacked a variety of products and things from all sides.

Nothing fills our hearts with joy and appreciation like a couple Tumblr users swapping knowledge about the history of soda and carrier pigeons in a totally random Tumblr thread. But hey, that's what Tumblr is all about. Can't say that we knew that drinking Pepsi cold and Coke warm would result in them tasting the same. Is that real life? 

Whether it was an idiotic promotion, lack of oversight, a glitch in the system, an escape room scheduling loophole, or a sandwich place that also sold discounted ingredients to its own sandwiches, these people found a way to play the game and save a couple dollars in the process. The commitment and dedication it takes to notice these loopholes is admirable, in a chaotic, roguish sort of way.

Someone on AskReddit asked for people to share their experiences with commercials that were so bad, they ultimately deterred interest in people giving companies any business. Breaking out the loud, squeaking tires on a commercial is no way to go about winning over the hearts of someone. Or, showing the same commercial over and over again, like they forgot about it when they saw the commercial a mere few minutes ago. 

Some things that we all can agree to hate are telemarketers, spam, and convincing scams.The whole "please don't call me back, take us off your list thing" is working less and less these days, so this guy opted to set up a meeting and make an inception style mockery of the whole process. People have their own strategies for shutting down marketing and scam calls, but the effort put into this is awesome.

These honest slogans do away with the deception that brands put out when it comes to marketing, and instead just get right to the damn point. Sometimes you had a hell of a day, and just need to take a pint of Ben & Jerry's home with you, to eat your feelings away. 

After being put on a waiting list for way too long and seeing his wife blown off by incompetent healthcare administration, this guy took the matter into his own hands, with some creative emailing and the use of telemarketing software. The world is full of people complying maliciously, like this IT guy who came up with a masterful plan after being told he had to work on vacation.

One day someone asks if you mind being in a couple pictures, then the next day you find yourself in an ad for extra-small condoms. The stock photo game can be a weird one, and these people found out the hard way.

The people who make bathtub trays seem to be under the impression that the people who buy them are in search of a lifestyle of elegance. Sharon Su investigates this incredible phenomenon in the thread below. Also, it looks like they used the blue drink twice. Huh.

Even the most well-intentioned PR stunts can give way to absolute and utter catastrophe. Every action is ripe for a fail that we hopefully find ourselves honoring back here at Fail Blog, one day. In this case, we've pooled together some of the world's most notable PR stunt fails, for your enjoyment. And we don't think they'll disappoint. How about that whole LifeLock madness? Todd, you savage. 

The online fake feud between Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman was a wildly entertaining spectacle to behold. As fans, we got to sit back and enjoy a couple witty celebrities, engage in the kind of playful, snarky banter we might lend ourselves over to with friends and associates in our daily life. It was relatable. And that was the beauty of it. "Tweet reports" indicate that the two men are calling an "official truce" and will be helping each other out in some marketing efforts. I'll believe it when I see it. I'm keeping the faith that there's some more trolling and roasting lurking around the corner from at least one of 'em! 

Author, Kate O'Neill used her platform on Twitter to encourage people participating in online activities like the recent, trending profile picture aging meme on Facebook, to slow down and think about it critically. O'Neill asks people to consider how willingly posting that information online for Facebook's seemingly sentient algorithm to digest, can have a ripple effect on society as a whole; how that information can be fed into worldwide databases, sold off to advertising agencies, and used to exploit the very people that upload it, without considering the impacts, in the process. She doesn't aim to inspire panic in this Twitter thread, but instead, she wants us to think critically when considering the fast-changing landscape of the world around us. Some solid advice! 

We swear this isn't an ad for Denny's. We just wanna show you all the weird shit they're posting online. We didn't think Denny's new marketing strategy to appeal to tech-savvy youths could get stranger. Then we found out they've discovered Tumblr. Here's 19 head-scratching moments made possible by whatever the hell Denny's is doing to sell pancakes.

These failed so hard they're actually kind of amazing in their own regard.