I don’t know if anybody else talked about it yet in this answer thread, but one of them I know of that proved to be an absolute — and seriously creepy — marketing disaster was Fiat’s 1994 promotion campaign.
The renowned Italian car manufacturing company began a very unique and unusual advertising campaign to increase their sales in the Spanish market and to promote their new model, the Fiat Cinquecento. But the tactic that they used wasn’t putting up any ordinary ad. Fiat instead sent out 50,000 anonymous love letters written on pink paper aimed at “independent, modern, working women”.
The love letters basically drenched the recipient in compliments and excessive flattery, so much so that the letters’ content sounded more like strangely freaky threats coming from a stalker pretending to be romantic rather than a car company’s marketing campaign.
The letters contained messages such as, “We passed by on the street yesterday, and I noticed how you looked at me with interest”, “I only want to be with you a few minutes, and I promise our experience together will be unforgettable”, and ones that even requested the recipient to travel on “a little adventure” with the author. The writer’s identity is eventually solved about 4–6 days later in a following letter, where the author is revealed as the Fiat Cinquecento.
The campaign proved to be a tremendous failure, as it was proven to have stricken uneasiness and fear in many adult women. The Spanish newspaper El Pais had reported that year that many of the recipients felt greatly threatened by the letters, as they believed there was a stalker coming after them. Many of them were moved to not leave the house without the accompaniment of a male partner, or even to lock themselves in their apartments.
Eventually, Fiat stopped the campaign after many protests had been unleashed, and the company received a fine of 15,000 pesetas ($98.80) by the Zaragoza High Court.
And that, my friends, is NOT how you do a good advertising campaign. If people are creeped out about it to the point they’re doing anything they possibly can to hide themselves, then it’s gone too far.
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