It takes a very special marketing or PR talent to devise and execute an effective and successful publicity stunt. 

The odds are stacked towards epic failure for ill-conceived ideas that seemed so interesting, so wacky, and so controversial when they were written on a white board in a conference room somewhere. 

There were two stunts just this week that received a ton of attention, but seemed to have completely fallen flat.  

The “Blood Shoe” co-promotion featuring Lil Nas X and MSCHF, and the Volkswagen April fools day fiasco. 

Time will tell how history ultimately judges them, and if they find a place on the list of all-time bad ideas.  You know, like some of these you may or may not remember…

Have you talked to anyone that found Volkswagen’s planted story of how they would change their name to “Voltswagen” even moderately amusing?  For one thing, it was an April fools day joke that they tried to pull off on March 30.  That alone makes the joke a complete joke, if you can’t even get it to land on the right day. 

Building automobiles is kind of a serious business, since a little thing known as “life and death” is involved in it.  You don’t see Ricky Gervais or Jerry Seinfeld trying to invent, perfect, and mass produce a battery operated automobile in their spare time. 

When it comes to comedy, it’s best when left in the hands of professionals. 

The stunt MSCHF pulled this week, marketing and selling a Satan Show, with real blood, and all the bells and whistles an actual devil would find appealing did not amuse Nike.  They filed a lawsuit Monday, seeking a temporary restraining order and received it.  But it was after MSCHF sold 666 pairs of the shoes featuring a modified Nike Sneaker in less than a minute. 

Here’s 5 other publicity stunts that the creators probably wish they could pull back. 

  1. 1. IHOb

That’s not a typo.  In 2018 IHOP spread their wings into the burger business, and announced that they had officially changed their name to make sure the world knew they were selling burgers. Hence, IHOP turned into IHOb, 

Pancake lovers revolted.  The company realized they had egg and pancake batter on their face, and quickly backpedaled, saying it was just a PR stunt. 

2.  Build-A-Bear

This one appeared to truly start with good intentions. Build-A-Bear ran a promotion called “Pay Your Age for ANY furry friend in the store!”

The idea would be if a child was 2, 5, 7 or 36 years old, the cost of a stuffed bear of their choice would be their age.  $2, $5, $7, or $36 dollars.

The promotion worked.  Too well.  8-hour lines formed in malls from coast-to-coat, and the store had to quickly cancel the promotion because of safety concerns. Parents were ticked, deservedly so. 

The company quickly went back to their previous business model of charging an arm and a leg for a stuffed bear. 

3.  Air Force One

Back in 2009, the Department of Defense decided to orchestrate a mid-air photo shoot of a new Air Force One, complete with a fighter jet next to it. 

Wanting to have the optimal backdrop, they did a beautifully scenic low-attitude fly-over directly above Manhattan.  Just eight years after 9-11, which completely freaked out people on the ground who had no idea what was going on, and word is it royally ticked off President Barack Obama when he learned of it. 

4. Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake

JT didn’t have Jackson “naked by the end of this song,” like he promised in the lyrics, but it was close. 

During halftime of the Super Bowl in 2004, Timberlake culminated the performance by pulling off part of Jackson’s costume, revealing her right breast for 9/16ths of a second. 

CBS cut immediately to an aerial shot, but the damage from what Timberlake called a “wardrobe malfunction”  was done. 

Over 200,000 complaints were phoned in to CBS, and the fallout was swift and massive. The FCC got involved, and so did the NFL.  

It would be the last time MTV would ever be allowed to produce a halftime special for the NFL at the Super Bowl. 

FILE – In this Sunday Feb. 1, 2004, file photo, entertainer Janet Jackson, left, covers her breast after her outfit came undone during the half time performance with Justin Timberlake at Super Bowl XXXVIII in Houston.

5.  Oprah and KFC

Also back in 2009, Oprah announced one of her famous giveaways that were always a huge hit.  Instead of giving away free cars to her studio audience, this time she provided free coupons online for fans to receive a Kentucky Grilled Chicken 2 piece meal. 

The response was overwhelming for KFC’s around the country.  They couldn’t handle the influx of customers trying to redeem the coupons, and had to shut down the promotion immediately. 

To make matters worse, El Pollo Loco took advantage of the situation and said they would honor the KFC coupons, and they pulled off one of the greatest publicity stunts of the past decade with a huge spike in sales, awareness and publicity. 

When it comes to PR stunts, being lucky has a better chance of working than being smart.

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