The 15 Biggest PR Disasters Of The Decade

Bridgestone began receiving complaints about their Firestone tires treads' tendency to separate, often resulting in horrific accidents, starting in 1998.

But they refused to admit that there was a real problem until 2000, when the NHTSA launched a large-scale investigation. After much waffling in the press, Bridgestone finally accepted blame, and on August 9, 2000, they announced the recall of 6.5 million tires -- the second-largest recall in U.S. history.

According to CBS News, the NHTSA eventually announced that nearly 200 deaths and more than 700 injuries had been caused by the faulty tires.

Can you put a positive spin on smoking deaths? Philip Morris thought so, when they released the results of a study conducted in the Czech Republic proving that smokers' deaths had "positive effects" financially for the Czech government.

According to CNN, the tobacco giant conducted the study in response to the Czech government's argument that the financial costs of smoking outweighed its benefits. Not so, said Philip Morris: smoking actually resulted in a net gain of around $147 million, including saving "between 943 million and 1.2 billion korunas (about $24 million-to-$30 million) in health-care, pension and public-housing costs due to the early deaths of smokers."

The company, of course, faced a huge public backlash as a result of the release, which was intended to create positive PR for an already-struggling industry. CBS News reports that it also subsequently canceled its plans for similar studies in other countries.

In April 2002, Abercrombie & Fitch released a line of t-shirts depicting caricatures of Asian stereotypes. Corporate commentary? "We personally thought Asians would love this T-shirt." (10News)

A month later, the company introduced racy thong underwear in childrens' sizes, aimed at girls aged 10 to 14. Corporate commentary? "The underwear for young girls was created with the intent to be lighthearted and cute." (Direct Mag)

These moves caused huge consumer backlash, boycotts, protests, and a storm of media criticism. But considering the store is famous for its sexually explicit quarterly "catalogues," was anyone really surprised?

Get rich by "buying stolen properties, pimpin hoes, building crack houses and getting car jacked!"

“You got yo whole neighborhood addicted to crack. Collect $50.” Score!

With lines like that, how could Urban Outfitters have predicted that people would be offended by it selling and promoting "Ghettopoly"?

Even though preliminary studies in 2000 had suggested that painkiller Vioxx posed a potential heart health risk, executives at pharmaceutical giant Merck chose not to pursue those studies further.

Four years later, Merck was forced to recall that very drug because of evidence that it may have caused heart attacks and cardiac deaths in thousands of its users. The recall turned into a massive scandal as reports came out that Merck had known about the serious risk, yet continued to promote the drug anyways.

The company faced an SEC investigation and hundreds of lawsuits as a result of its actions. The scandal was finally laid to rest in 2009, according to the Wall Street Journal, when Merck settled litigation for $80 million.

The Super Bowl: a classic, all-American, family-friendly tradition. Except for the game in 2004, when Janet Jackson's halftime "wardrobe malfunction" was broadcast into millions of homes across the country.

CBS was slapped with a record fine of $550,000 after the FCC received 540,000 complaints from irate viewers.

The infamous incident, sometimes referred to as "Nipplegate," caused networks to institute tape delays in live broadcasts and impose stricter regulation on subsequent halftime shows.

In light of "Nipplegate," you would think that networks would have gotten the message that American football-viewers are of the family-friendly, more-wholesome ilk. Clearly, ABC missed out on that one.

Just a year later, they aired a raunchy promo during Monday Night Football, featuring sexy "Desperate Housewives" star Nicollette Sheridan -- wearing nothing but a towel and attempting to seduce Terrell Owens. Of course, the ad upset many viewers and prompted the FCC to respond.

According to ESPN, the network immediately issued an apology, but the complaints still poured in to the FCC and a fine was seriously considered.

Watch the ad on YouTube.

Most of us, when presented with a book proposal about how a man would have killed his wife, would probably realize that it might be a bad idea to publish it. Take into account the fact that the author's name is O.J. Simpson, and change that "probably" to a "definitely."

HarperCollins publisher Judith Regan did not have such a response. Neither did Fox News, who decided to schedule a two-part interview with Simpson about the same subject.

Oh yeah, and both companies are owned by Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp.

Facing scathing condemnation from the public, Murdoch quickly fired Regan and cancelled both endeavors, saying, “I and senior management agree with the American public that this was an ill-considered project," according to the New York Times.

Photo: Wikipedia

Cartoon Network's guerilla advertising campaign to promote their offbeat show "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" could have been cool -- had the company not chosen devices that made people think they were bombs.

According to the Boston Globe, CN's campaign involved 38 magnetic, light-up signs placed around the city in random public places, such as this one under a bridge. Unfortunately, the mysterious signs lacked any explanation, causing many locals to believe they were dangerous and a threat.

Police were inundated by phone calls, bomb squads were deployed, and parts of the subway system were shut down for a period of time. The head of Cartoon Network eventually resigned after taking blame for approving the stunt, and the two men who were deemed physically responsible for putting up the devices faced criminal charges for the hoax.

In early 2007, nine JetBlue flights at JFK airport were delayed for up to 11 hours because of serious inclement weather. Normally, this wouldn't have resulted in much more than a few really irritated travelers, but in this case, JetBlue decided to keep its nearly 1,000 passengers trapped in the runway-bound planes for the entire time.

According to CBS News, passengers described the experience as "horrific." As snacks depleted and the bathroom situation grew unpleasant, people on the planes grew more and more upset that they were not being allowed to de-plane and just walk to the terminal, which was within sight. They were only permitted to leave the aircrafts when official airport vehicles finally arrived to transport them.

JetBlue at first defended it's decision, arguing that its passengers' safety in the ice storm was top priority, but the incident sparked government debate about passengers' rights. According to Consumer Affairs, a week later, JetBlue announced its own "Passengers' Bill of Rights," which detailed different levels of compensation for varying types of delays, as well as a promise to de-plane passengers after five hours' delay in the future.

(Note: This one wasn't on Fineman's list for 2007, but we couldn't let it slide.)

You'd think if you were heading to Washington to beg for a $25 billion bailout, you would be smarter than to show up in an expensive private jet.

Unfortunately, the CEOs of GM, Chrysler, and Ford  made that very mistake in November 2008. At a hearing before the House Financial Services Committee, CNN reported: "Rep. Brad Sherman, D-California, pressed the private-jet issue, asking the three CEOs to 'raise their hand if they flew here commercial.'"

Of course, none of them had, prompting ridicule from the public and press. The three execs learned their lesson, choosing to drive hybrid cars to their next hearing in the hopes of staving off more bad press.

What would you do with $85 billion in government rescue money? Host a corporate retreat at the posh St. Regis resort in California, of course.

One week after receiving a massive federal bailout, AIG did exactly that, with a retreat that supposedly cost $434,343.71.

Not surprisingly, the public and lawmakers were quite upset. The company's actions prompted an admonishment from the White House, who called it "despicable," and widespread re-vamping of corporate retreat policies.

Oprah undoubtedly has the power to boost sales. Unfortunately, KFC learned this lesson the hard way in May of this year, when they teamed up with the charismatic talk-show host to launch their new line of grilled chicken.

After Oprah plugged the product on her show and promoted a coupon for free chicken on her site, KFC restaurants nation-wide were swamped with customers demanding their complimentary chicken. Many restaurants weren't prepared to meet the demand, and hundreds of people walked away chicken-less and angry.

KFC later mailed out rainchecks to their disgruntled customers, but the fiasco still earned it the number-one spot in Adweek's list of the most-memorable product launches of the year.

In April, corporate America learned that powerful social media, so often touted for its marketing possibilities, can also be used for evil. When two Domino's Pizza employees posted videos of themselves doing disgusting things to food that they were getting ready to send out (let's just say you'll never want to order a Domino's Italian sandwich again,) the results were catastrophic. Domino's waited two days to respond, and in the meantime nearly one million people viewed the videos on YouTube. Simultaneously, the blogs and Twitter were ablaze with discussion of the incident.

The pizza company soon fired the two employees and issued an apology (via YouTube video,) but the damage was already done. According to the New York Times, consumer perception of the brand had turned negative within hours, and online forums continued to discuss the videos, which were cut, re-worked, and re-posted hundreds of times, long past the apology.

Watch the videos at The Consumerist.

Even the government (especially the government) makes a really bad PR move now and again.

Imagine you're a New Yorker, in a post-9/11 world. You're working downtown, when all of a sudden you see a plane flying unusually low over the city, pursued by a fighter jet. What would you assume?

This thought never crossed the minds of those down at the Department of Defense, who organized this Air Force One photo-op without notifying anyone in New York City. Unfortunately, the event resulted in widespread panic throughout lower Manhattan, with many people evacuating their offices and reporting the incident to police.

According to ABC News, President Obama was "furious" that no one had been informed, while Mayor Bloomberg was quoted as saying, "Poor judgment would have been a nice way to put it."

The official responsible for the mistake resigned.

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