From the cringe-worthy to the downright nauseating, these St. Patrick’s Day ads and social media marketing campaigns are the worst.
10. Heineken’s Boys vs. Girls Ad
Truth be told, some people may love this one. But, do we really need to pander so boldly to gender stereotypes to sell beer? The content opens with a group of women oohing and ahhing over their friend’s new walk-in closet, only to be interrupted by the excited noise of the group’s men as they discover their buddy’s Heineken closet. The mocking nature of the men as they squeal and scream over the closet filled with beer goes a bit over the top to be anything but nauseating.
9. Guinness’s 2016 Canadian Marketing Mishap
Although they get points for creativity, Guinness missed the mark when they put their “Preferred Foliage” signs up in the Toronto subway. The banner included the Canadian maple leaf with the caption “March 16,” and what should have been a shamrock captioned “March 17th.” But they somehow used a clover instead of a shamrock and the whole thing fell a little flat.
8. Donald Trump’s 2017 St. Patty’s Day Hat
In an effort to capitalize on the momentum from his “Make America Great Again” slogan, the Trump team designed a limited edition green version of the president’s red hat for the modest price of $50. But there was one major problem. Like Guinness, the design team accidentally used a four-leaf clover instead of a shamrock. The Twitterverse quickly responded.
7. DiGiorno’s 2014 Tweet
Perhaps they deserve a slow clap for effort, but DiGiorno’s 2014 St. Patrick’s Day tweet, “Kiss me, I’m pizza,” was about as inspiring as day-old, cold pizza.
6. Charmin’s “Pot of Gold”
DiGiorno wasn’t the only brand with tweets that fell short of the mark in 2014. Charmin’s “Pot of Gold” attempt at potty humor felt forced and awkward. This ad features a toilet set against a park-like backdrop with a rainbow coming out of the bowl, and the caption, “Today we will all find our Pot of Gold…if you know what we mean.” Are they actually suggesting that the contents of the bowl are as good as gold?
5. McDonald’s 2012 #Shamrocking Campaign
Proof that brands often try too hard to create viral campaigns, the brand’s content marketing efforts with #Shamrocking never found the footing that planking or tebowing did. Instead, it earned the brand a good bit of mockery from the press and marketers alike.
4. “Twilight’s” “Pinch Me” Tweet
In 2015, the “Twilight Saga” tried to capitalize on the holiday by tweeting a picture of their famed male lead vampire, Edward, with the caption, “Pinch me.” This somewhat baffling example of social media marketing gone awry is proof positive that sometimes it’s better to just stay silent.
3. Nike’s Black and Tan
At first blush this looks like an ode to the famed drink made by mixing a light lager beer with Guinness. However, when they launched the shoe in Ireland, they actually offended many people because the term “black and tan” refers to the unit sent by the British parliament responsible for civilian attacks during the Irish rebellion.
2. Bud Lite
In a tone-deaf move, Bud Lite created a St. Patrick’s Day tweet with the caption, “On #StPatricksDay you can pinch people who don’t wear green. You can also pinch people who aren’t #UpForWhatever.” The brand quickly deleted the tweet after the uproar over its pro-assault implication struck the wrong nerve with Twitter users.
1. McDonald’s 2017 St. Patrick’s Day Tweet
In 2017, the fast food giant tweeted a video to promote its Shamrock Shake for the upcoming St. Patty’s Day holiday. Although the “Instrumint” caption was clever, the use of bagpipes and Stonehenge in its imagery left people in Ireland scratching their heads over how Scottish and English references honor the spirit of the holiday.
So, what can we learn from these ads? Content marketers need to know their audience to avoid flubbing important cultural references and to create effective campaigns that resonate with viewers.Did we leave something off our list? Disagree with any of our choices? Leave us a comment below to let us know!
Did we leave something off our list? Disagree with any of our choices? Leave us a comment below to let us know!
