The worst PR moves in history
While Dr Mumbo is not a fan of the lazy stealing of content from the Reddit hive mind, he can’t go past a recent thread on the worst PR moves in history.
You can see all 14,506 contributions in their full glory here.
And from that list, Dr Mumbo has selected some of his favourites:
1. The time the manufacturer of gasoline additive tetraethyl lead, Thomas Midgley Jnr, inhaled it at a press conference to prove it was safe – and was later diagnosed with lead poisoning which killed him
Daryl Somers, not Summers
that Chaser skit drew broad support from medical workers for exposing the make a wish foundation’s unrealistic claims and the effect it had on sick kids
was a PR success in the long run
Probably thought of by advertising people nine times out of 10.
The summary at #3 is a little misleading. The result of Ratner’s foolish statement was virtual destruction of the business, which lost £500 million in shareholder value and led to the closure of 330 stores and the loss of 2500 jobs, including his own. It was others who rebranded the surviving remnants. The British media call such self destruction “doing a Ratner.”
My understanding is that Thomas Midgley Jr contracted polio and died when he was strangled by the ropes and pulleys he’d designed for his bed entangled him.
That’s also much more ironic.