BNET's 10 Worst Ads of 2009
It's been a bumper year for really terrible advertising. Inappropriate references to Sept. 11? Pornographic Disney characters? Jokes about racism? It all happened in 2009. Here are our picks for the worst ads and TV spots of the last 12 months. Enjoy! 10. Red House Furniture: Black and White People North Carolina furniture store Red House let some hipsters do their advertising and what they got was an ironic commentary on the Rodney King beating in the form of a satire of local furniture store advertising. 9. Boost Mobile: Frosty and Mrs. Claus For their "You think this is wrong?" campaign, Boost put Santa's wife in bed with a snowman. "Santa's busy and I have needs," she says. Yes, I do think it's wrong. 8. Volvo: Twilight The weakest movie tie-in ever seen. Somehow, Volvo has something to do with teenage vampires. Don't ask. 7. Jamieson Brewery: Ho White and the 7 Dwarves An Australian beer company decided to re-imagine Snow White as a nympho. Disney sued immediately.
6. Miracle Whip: Don't Be So Mayo
This campaign was rescued when Stephen Colbert made fun of it (after BNET first noted it). But as originally conceived, it's a disaster. Somehow we are supposed to be persuaded that mayonnaise isn't trendy.
5. Palm Pre: Tamara Hope
They've been driving America mad all year: Ads with Tamara Hope's halting stage whisper about how orgasmically wonderful the new Palm device is. What were the director's instructions on this? Something like: "Give us earnest! No, casual! No, earnest and casual at the same time! Now face away from the camera! Now face back!"
4. General Motors: Reinvention
A one-legged man goes jogging -- and you're supposed to buy a GM car. This ad says more about the mind of GM's management than it does about selling cars.
3. Ralph Lauren: Filippa Hamilton
The designer apparently decided that Hamilton was too fat. So first he made her into a bobble-head doll on Photoshop. And then he fired her. Nice!
2. World Wildlife Fund Brazil: World Trade Center
"Let's re-enact Sept. 11, 2001, except with about 1,000 more planes!" What could possibly go wrong?
1. Virgin Mobile: Locker Room
Tasteless and irrelevant at the same time: A woman in a gym locker room leaves her lips on the bench as she takes a shower. "It's probably not contagious as long as I, you know, air it out a bit," she babbles, as a horrified customer looks on. This sells phones ... how?
- Related:
- BNET's Worst Ads of 2008