Worst 2008 ads
* Client: Toyota Motor Corp
* Agency: Publicis Groupe’s Saatchi & Saatchi
* Content: A car ad pushing zero-percent financing featured a version of the 1983 Fixx song “Saved by Zero.”
* Feedback: Toyota’s ad appears tone deaf. A Facebook fan club that urged “Stop Playing Toyota’s ‘Saved by Zero’ Commercial” was able to recruit about 10,000 members. TV watchers were sick of seeing the ad. “Our objective was to drive traffic to our dealers who were experiencing a dropoff,” says a Toyota spokeswoman, adding, “The ad performed: showroom traffic increased.”
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* Client: Microsoft Corp.
* Agency: Crispin Porter + Bogusky
* Content: Microsoft shelled out about $10 million for pitchman Jerry Seinfeld and paired him with Bill Gates for a massive Windows ad campaign. In one spot, the pair shopped for shoes; in another, they bunked with a family.
* Feedback: The much-anticipated ads were largely panned by viewers and ad experts. A Microsoft spokesman says, “The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about. We’re thrilled.”
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* Client: Salesgenie.com, a unit of InfoGroup Inc.
* Agency: In-house
* Content: One animated Super Bowl ad featured a panda couple, speaking in Asian accents, who worry they may go out of business and are saved by a panda psychic who recommends Salesgenie. Another spot showed a white boss berating an Indian salesman, Ramesh, who has eight children.
* Feedback: With over 90 million people watching the big game, the company misfired with these ads, say ad executives and many Super Bowl viewers. The company, which provides databases to marketers, eventually apologized for the ads and pulled the panda spot off the air. Salesgenie did not return calls seeking comment.
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* Client: American International Group Inc.
* Agency: Omnicom’s BBDO
* Content: Ads for the troubled insurance company carried the slogan “The Strength to Be There.” One ad featured cute children concerned about complex financial issues. They told their worries to their parents, who quickly reassured the moppets that everything was indeed OK, because “We’re with AIG.”
* Feedback: Even as the insurer was awaiting its government bailout, it was airing ads that carried the self-assured slogan. The company eventually cut corporate ads that carried the tag line. The slogan “did get pulled off, because it was a distraction to our businesses, which continue to be strong,” says Charlie Armstrong, an AIG advertising executive.
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* Client: Pfizer Inc.
* Agency: Publicis’s Kaplan Thaler Group
* Content: TV and print ads featured Robert Jarvik, the inventor of the artificial heart, peddling the cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor. In one ad, Dr. Jarvik says, “Just because I’m a doctor doesn’t mean I don’t worry about my cholesterol.”
* Feedback: The drug maker pulled the ads after the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, examining drug endorsements, complained Dr. Javik isn’t a practicing physician. A spokesman for Pfizer declined to comment.
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