Filed under: A Bit Of Inspiration, Advertising, Attitude & Aptitude, Brand Suicide, Comment, Crap Campaigns In History, Creativity, Embarrassing Moments, Entertainment, Marketing Fail, World Cup
I thought it had been well documented that any ad agency commandeering a song to try and show how ‘fun’ they are was a recipe for disaster.
Well, it seems that lesson has only been partially learnt, because while this sonic shitshow is not being performed by – or on behalf – of an agency, an agency was behind its creation and the end result is the sort of disaster that is more likely to cause hooliganism than fandom.
Seriously Qatar Airways, what the fuck were you thinking?
I know airline advertising is notoriously bad [except my old Virgin Atlantic stuff, of course] and World Cup spots tend to not be too far behind [except NIKE, though for some reason they’ve decided not to do anything yet which is either going to be a masterstroke of surprise* or a New Coke moment] but this piece of awfulness reaches a low that even Donald Trump at his most ambitious would be hard pressed to pull off.
Cliched.
Contrived.
Vacuous.
Lazy.
Devoid of any idea, energy or – for that matter – strategy.
Ladies and gentlemen. Boys and girls.
Please welcome an ad that was made to ruin your Monday …
* Please be a masterstroke of surprise. You are always the ones who define the World Cup.
Talking of NIKE and World Cup ads, maybe someone should tell the agency behind Iceland Air’s World Cup spot, that while people say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the reality is imitation is the laziest form of flattery.
Look, I know Write The Future was 8 years ago, but there’s this thing called the internet that means people can easily see and compare the work and while your production values are good – certainly compared to that Qatar disgrace – it’s still a blatant bloody ripoff that does you [and your agency] more harm than good.
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i can tell you something fucking scarier, i agree with every fucking word youve written in this post and now im shitting myself about my mental health.
Comment by andy@cynic June 25, 2018 @ 6:20 amMe too. Scary.
Comment by DH June 25, 2018 @ 6:34 amI will save these comments forever.
Comment by Rob June 25, 2018 @ 7:32 amyou should, it will never fucking happen again.
Comment by andy@cynic June 25, 2018 @ 8:23 amand ripping off write the future has made me hate those beardy bastards in iceland a bit. how fucking pathetic is that. almost as pathetic as ripping off one of the ad greats and thinking you could get away with it.
Comment by andy@cynic June 25, 2018 @ 6:22 amYep. At least it has nice production values, but it’s not even trying to hide what it is trying to recreate. That’s either super ballsy or super stupid.
Comment by Rob June 25, 2018 @ 7:34 amI like that Qatar spot came out in the same week as Cannes. Somehow fitting.
Comment by DH June 25, 2018 @ 6:34 amYes … nice to see the usual collection of good and terrible has been awarded this year.
Comment by Rob June 25, 2018 @ 7:35 amcannes is a festival of the fucked.
Comment by andy@cynic June 25, 2018 @ 8:24 amThat’s bad by bad World Cup ad standards.
Comment by George June 25, 2018 @ 7:09 amYep. It’s so, so, so, so bad.
Comment by Rob June 25, 2018 @ 7:34 amAre people allowed to dance in the streets of Qatar?
Comment by Billy Whizz June 25, 2018 @ 7:24 amSounds like you are the perfect candidate for a foreign policy job in Trump’s government.
Comment by Rob June 25, 2018 @ 7:35 amThe biggest sporting events always have the worst ads.
Comment by Bazza June 25, 2018 @ 8:30 amI love it when these drop. I’ll never get bored of hating on them.
What’s a massive concern are the comments under the YouTube video – it took me far too long to get to a “WTF is this” comment. Very very worrying.
Comment by Oz Dean (@ozdean) June 25, 2018 @ 9:18 pmIt’s not World Cup, but it’s another football related stinker from Qatar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrcH7atVgYM
Comment by Cringeworthy June 26, 2018 @ 1:13 am