Yesterday’s technology today, and other dumb business mistakes

CNNMoney.com has just announced its 101 Dumbest Moments in Business for 2007. “Candidate Wal-Mart” wins the booby prize: In an attempt to put a smiley face on its tarnished image, Wal-Mart hires heavy-hitting public relations firm Edelman, which sets about using tactics derived from political races to reverse public perceptions of the giant retailer. The ...

CNNMoney.com has just announced its 101 Dumbest Moments in Business for 2007. "Candidate Wal-Mart" wins the booby prize:

CNNMoney.com has just announced its 101 Dumbest Moments in Business for 2007. “Candidate Wal-Mart” wins the booby prize:

In an attempt to put a smiley face on its tarnished image, Wal-Mart hires heavy-hitting public relations firm Edelman, which sets about using tactics derived from political races to reverse public perceptions of the giant retailer.

The result? Given the public’s love of politicians,

Wal-Mart suffers its first quarterly profit drop in a decade, sees same-store sales decline in November’s run-up to the crucial holiday shopping season, and suffers a series of public relations gaffes so stunning that it lands six spots in this year’s edition of the 101 Dumbest Moments.

Other highlights include General Motors at number four, which launched a user-generated advertising campaign for its Chevy Tahoe SUV:

Among the new Tahoe ads that soon proliferate across the Web are ones with taglines like “Yesterday’s technology today” and “Global warming isn’t a pretty SUV ad – it’s a frightening reality.”

Then we can’t resist mentioning Kazakhstan, which comes in at number five with this blunder:

Amid efforts by Kazakhstan to prove it’s not the backward land portrayed in the movie Borat, the nation’s central bank misspells the Kazakh word for “bank” on its 2,000- and 5,000-tenge notes.

Prerna Mankad is a researcher at Foreign Policy.

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