In 2008 a star football player for the N.Y. Giants named Plaxico Burress was out partying at a N.Y. city club. He was drinking, dancing and having a good ole time when a pistol he was carrying went off and he was shot in his leg and foot with his own gun. He was out of action for a while and was the butt of many jokes by his teammates and opposing players. To add insult to injury New York City insisted on putting a favorite son in jail for two years for shooting himself! This was a very expensive and embarrassing accident that cost twenty months of his life. Yet for years some companies and individuals have took turns shooting themselves in the foot from time to time.
The latest corporate misfire has been with Anheuser Busch putting the picture of a transgender on some of their Bud Lite beer cans. Gosh, this sure sounds like a bad corporate decision for a company with a successful product like Bud Lite beer. If you have ever entered Houston going west on I-10 you cannot miss their gigantic brewery that runs day and night making Budweiser. Their beer has been selling as fast as they can possibly make it for at least fifty five years. Budweiser’s sales have shrunk for the first time in memory with many lifelong beer drinkers instantly changing to brands not made by Anheuser Busch. Who’s idea was this anyway? There are other ways to support your causes without costing your company millions of dollars.
Budweiser’s present situation reminds me of when Coke changed to “New Coke” and had Coca Cola drinkers revolting all over the world! My wife was very upset over this formula change. Unlike beer drinkers coke drinkers come in all shapes and sizes and many people drink it on a regular basis. Coke was forced to bring back regular coke and do away with New Coke. Whew! That was close, with millions of dollars at stake.
Another company who suffered a famous boondoggle was Subway when they hired a guy named Jarrod to promote their sandwiches for years. He was reported to have lost many pounds by eating only their sandwiches (he must have been eating the 6” without chips.) Jarrod was arrested for molesting children and having images of them on his computer. Now famous sports names have taken his place. Oh well, you win a few and lose a few. Jarrod, there may be a few sandwiches for you at the big house.
Another very famous self –imposed blunder was John Lennon of the Beatles saying his band was more famous than Jesus Christ. This also did not go over well, even with the hippies, and thousands of Beatles albums were burned in “Beatle bonfires” all over the country. I was there in Alexandria at Bringhurst Park as hundreds of Beatle albums were incinerated. Mr. Lennon was later assassinated for no good reason. Now figure that one out. As you can see there is fine line between unlimited success and failure that is only briefly mentioned here. In advertising you better think twice before you sign someone, support a cause or come out with a problem product because this just might be what your company will be remembered for.
