When Marketing Goes Wrong: 3 Recent Case Studies and What They Teach Us
Marketing is supposed to get people talking.
But there’s a big difference between “Everyone is talking about this!” and “Everyone is talking about this, and your brand is the punchline.”
The idea of all PR is good PR.... maybe not...
The last few weeks have given us several examples of brands trying to create attention, jump into conversations, or make their marketing more memorable... and then learning the hard way that going viral isn't always a win.
Let's break them down.
Case Study #1: Callaway Golf
Callaway recently found itself in hot water over a short promotional video created in partnership with golf content group Good Good.
The 15-second ad was meant to promote a Callaway driver. Instead, it showed Good Good co-founder Garrett Clark aggressively shoving fellow Good Good member Alexis Miestowski to the ground when she reached toward his golf bag. He then tells her not to touch his new driver, while Callaway branding appears in the video.
The video was quickly deleted after significant backlash, and both Good Good and Callaway issued apologies. Callaway said it was disappointed by the content, while Good Good acknowledged that the video did not align with its values.
But we used violence against women as a punchline? In an already male-dominated sport.... In a world where golfclubs are literally used in domestic violence situations....
Brands sometimes chase the idea of being funny, unexpected, edgy or “stopping the scroll.” But there needs to be so much more thought put into this.
Your content needs more than an approval for grammar and product placement. It needs a common-sense check.
Before something goes live, ask:
Does our brand align with this type of storytelling?
Will we push away current customers by pushing this narrative?
Could this be interpreted differently than we intended?
Who could feel targeted, mocked or excluded?
Does the joke still work if someone doesn't know our brand?
Would we be comfortable seeing this headline in the news?
Does this reinforce or contradict what our company says it stands for?
And perhaps the most important question:
If this post goes viral, are we prepared for why it went viral?
Case Study #2: Lovesac
This one is particularly interesting for anyone who works in social media.
A comedian and content creator named Deric Cahill posted a video joking about assembling his Lovesac sectional. The couch arrived in 24 boxes, and he jokingly called the experience “corporate terrorism.”
It was relatable. It was funny. It was exactly the kind of organic customer content brands dream about.
Then Lovesac responded.
Lovesac CEO Shawn Nelson responded to the creator with jokes of his own, including offering to send him a pair of small floral gardening gloves. The brand's social account then posted additional videos poking fun at the situation and the creator.
One post joked about the “feminine urge” to provide masculine energy, while another continued the joke around assembling the couch.
The internet did not love it. Cahill was being relatable and funny. Lovesac then tried to be funny in return, but it came off as bully.
What started as a funny customer complaint quickly became a conversation about whether a brand was publicly mocking a paying customer.
The original content wasn't really a PR crisis. The response created one.
This is something small businesses need to pay attention to.
When someone complains about your business online, your first instinct may be:
“They're being ridiculous. I'm going to explain why they're wrong.”
Don't.
They see a brand publicly arguing with a person.
And suddenly the question isn't:
“Was the couch difficult to assemble?”
It's:
“Why is this company bullying its customer?”
You don't have to win every comment-section argument.
In fact, sometimes the best social media strategy is to not participate.
When a customer complains:
Listen first.
Determine whether there's a legitimate issue.
Move the conversation private if necessary.
Respond publicly only when there's value in doing so.
Don't make the customer the punchline.
Never let your ego run the brand account.
Case Study #3: Tarte
Tarte launched a new contour stick called the Snatch Stick and very intentionally positioned it as a sort of “plastic surgeon in a stick.”
The PR campaign took that concept very literally.
Influencers received packages featuring plastic-surgery imagery, including photos of themselves marked with the dotted lines commonly associated with cosmetic procedures. Some packages included suggested “treatments” such as an upper blepharoplasty, rhinoplasty, jaw lift and Botox. The brand also sent “glambulances” to influencers, complete with makeup artists dressed like medical professionals and gurneys.
Predictably, people had opinions.
Some influencers and consumers thought the campaign was funny, creative and clearly communicating what the product does.
Many others found it disturbing, particularly because the campaign used their own faces to suggest cosmetic procedures they might supposedly need.
And here's where Tarte gets really interesting.
The controversy was part of the strategy.
Tarte CEO Maureen Kelly openly discussed the brand's strategy of creating “scroll-stopping” content and a “crazy PR delivery” designed to generate viral moments.
And commercially?
It worked.
Tarte reported that it sold 2.4 times the expected number of Snatch Sticks, with 65% of its first inventory batch gone within the first week. Forty-two percent of those purchasers were first-time Tarte customers.
So was Tarte's campaign a marketing flub?
That's debatable.
It was certainly polarizing. But it also demonstrates something marketers sometimes forget:
Attention can be a strategy.
The question is whether the attention is worth the risk.
And this is where small businesses need to be careful.
You might look at Tarte and think:
“Maybe I need to be more controversial!”
Probably not.
Tarte has a massive audience, years of brand recognition, an established personality and the resources to absorb a controversial campaign.
A local restaurant, nonprofit, boutique, or service provider doesn't necessarily have that same cushion.
For a small business, the cost of getting people to talk about you negatively can be much higher than the benefit of getting a few extra views.
So don't copy the controversy.
Copy the strategy behind the strategy.
Tarte understood that:
The product needed a clear hook.
The campaign needed to be visually recognizable.
People needed a reason to share it.
The PR package itself became content.
The conversation extended beyond the brand's own social channels.
You can do all of those things without making people angry.
So What Do These Three Examples Have in Common?
Interestingly, all three brands were trying to accomplish essentially the same thing:
Get attention.
Callaway wanted a memorable ad.
Lovesac wanted to participate in a viral customer conversation.
Tarte wanted a launch people couldn't stop talking about.
The difference was in how much control they had over the conversation once it started.
And that's the part every business owner needs to understand.
1. Going viral isn't the goal.
A million views aren't automatically good.
If a million people see your post because they think you're hilarious? Great.
If a million people see it because they think you're offensive, incompetent, or cruel? That's a very different kind of exposure.
2. Your response is part of the original post.
This is probably the biggest lesson from Lovesac.
You don't get to separate:
“What happened” from “How we responded.”
Your response can make a small problem disappear... or turn it into the story.
This applies to comments, reviews, complaints, DMs, and viral posts.
Don't respond while you're annoyed.
Draft it. Walk away. Have someone else read it. Then post.
3. Don't confuse controversy with creativity.
Controversy is one way to get attention.
It's not the only way.
You can create content that is:
surprising
funny
unexpected
emotional
relatable
genuinely useful
without intentionally upsetting people.
The goal isn't to make people mad. The goal is to make people feel something.
4. Have a “Would We Be Okay With This?” test.
Before publishing something potentially edgy, imagine it outside of your own feed.
Imagine someone screenshots it.
Imagine a local news station posts it.
Imagine your biggest customer sends it to your competitor.
Imagine your grandmother sees it.
Imagine someone who knows absolutely nothing about your brand sees it with zero context.
Does it still represent you?
If the answer is no, reconsider.
5. Your brand personality needs boundaries.
Being funny doesn't mean being mean.
Being bold doesn't mean being offensive.
Being relatable doesn't mean oversharing.
Being edgy doesn't mean being reckless.
And being authentic doesn't mean posting every thought that crosses your mind.
Your brand should have a personality... but that personality should still have boundaries.
The Bigger Lesson for Small Businesses
You don't need a Super Bowl-sized advertising budget to learn from these examples.
In fact, small businesses can learn something incredibly valuable from them.
Every post is a brand decision.
Whether you're posting a reel to 300 people or a national campaign to 3 million, your audience is forming an opinion about your business.
So before you hit publish, don't just ask:
“Will this get engagement?”
Ask:
“What kind of engagement?”
“What does this say about us?”
And most importantly:
“If this gets 100 times more attention than I expected, will I be happy that I posted it?”
Because that's the thing about social media:
You never really know which post is going to take off.
You just want to make sure you're proud of the one that does.
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