From woke to broke – why do some companies never learn?

Friday blog

My previous blog was quite long. So, today’s will be short and sweet and have lots of pictures and very little text.

You’ll all hopefully remember the ‘brilliant’ Bud Light ad featuring a person of unclear gender which almost bankrupted the company:

Apparently, the majority of Bud Light drinkers didn’t identify with the man/woman/thing fronting the ads.

And you’ll hopefully remember the Jaguar ad which brought ridicule on the company, alienated most/all potential customers and led to a collapse in sales:

Jaguar are now reportedly looking for a new ad agency. Perhaps the company should also be looking for a new management team?

Well, apparently sports brand Nike have decided to follow the same “go woke, go broke” path to commercial suicide. Here’s one of Nike’s recent ultra-woke ads:

I’ll leave you to judge whether this would appeal to a typical Nike customer.

And here’s the gentleman who almost single-handedly destroyed Bud Light now being paid no doubt handsomely to advertise Nike sports bras and leggings:

And here’s Nike’s share price since 2015:

Clearly, Nike management seem to have lost the plot several years ago. But it does look like supra-woke ads featuring a gravitationally-challenged woman of colour and a titless man trying to flog Nike women’s sports bras has done little to reassure shareholders that Nike management have the slightest clue about who their customers are and what their customers want.

One of my first jobs was working for a London advertising agency. And I saw some real horrors which I might write about in a future blog. But I fail to see how the management teams at Bud Light, Jaguar and now Nike can have made such appalling advertising decisions.

Good grief! Some companies never learn.