Fat Shaming

There's something that has been bothering me for a while. Every time I've visited Women's Health Magazine's website, I've seen a nasty little message. As a person who is trying to better themselves by finding effective workouts, healthy recipes, and healthy living tips, I'm pretty sure that the last thing I need to see when I visit womenshealthmag.com is this message:

Women's Health Magazine #FatShaming message

When a company wants to earn new customers or have people sign up for their mailing list, they usually aim to please them. Women's Health Magazine has devised a way for people to feel bad about themselves when clicking through their website. Not only does this disturb me as a consumer, but it disappoints me. The world doesn't need any more negativity, especially from a magazine whose website is introduced as "It's good to be you! Feel better and look younger with the best workout routines, easy eating plans, printable guides and more" in search results.

It fascinates me that someone on the Women's Health Magazine team thought this was a good idea.

Woman Within

I'm not sure why, but we received this in the mail for my dad. It's a clothing catalog for women that runs from sizes 12W to 44W.

 

Receiving this catalog made me question the merits of the direct mail list that this company purchased. I'm inclined to think that sending a catalog to male baby boomers is not a wise use of marketing dollars. 

It does make me laugh to tease my dad about this catalog, though. 

Black Angus Steakhouse Sign Fail

I'm sure that many people have seen this picture before, because it's hilariously amazing. There were some very special forces that aligned in the skies to make this image possible. I would like to take this opportunity to thank them.

Image courtesy of AndrewKeir.com

You know, I bet marketers never sit around thinking of these possibilities, when devising catchy names for steakhouses.

Have you ever seen anything that compares to this marketing failure?

Santé

There is something that has been bothering me for a few months. I have noticed a commercial for a rehab center that is located in Texas. Unfortunately, they named it "Santé Center for Healing."

Now, in theory, naming a rehab center after the French word for "health" would have been a good idea. However, if someone had spent about 10 minutes searching online, they might have realized that this word is also used as a toast before drinking alcohol.

When people go to drink alcoholic beverages in France, they say "à votre santé," which means "to your health." They also use "santé" or just "health."

I'm inclined to think that a recovering alcoholic does not need a reminder of a foreign term for toasting as they are trying to stay away from alcohol.

Has anyone else ever noticed a major marketing failure like this in the past?