Willy Wonky

While it will be very hard to outdo the massive dumpster fire of an event that was Fyre Fest, the Willy Wonka Experience certainly garnered its fair share of criticism and virality online. The marketing disaster in Glasgow turned into a real-life Halloween horror story, providing a spectacular lesson in what NOT to do when it comes to event planning and marketing. At £35 a ticket, the event was envisioned as a playful and immersive experience thanks to the AI-generated ads and posters, but on arrival, guests were greeted with what can only be described as nightmare fuel. They discovered a sparsely decorated warehouse, with sad-looking Oompa Loompas and a newly invented character, “The Unknown” roaming the venue. The backlash was swift and widespread, and the organiser admitted to using AI to generate much of the marketing, including the scripts. Participants, including children, were left confused and disappointed – some parents even called police – leading to a viral social media frenzy.

Image: Jam Press / “Sad Oompa Loompa”, Kirsty Paterson 

This event followed the arrival of AI, and everyone was jumping on board to harness it for their business without following through with due diligence and expecting it to make up for a lack of actual skill and event planning experience. As this article highlights, there are plenty of lessons for marketers here, namely the potential pitfalls of using AI without adequate human oversight, and the importance of balancing ambitious creative ideas with practical execution and maintaining quality control over every aspect of an event.

But, having said that, the monumental fail did inspire some marketing mastery – including a pop-up in LA, and Willy Fest: A Musical Parody which made its (lacklustre) debut at the Fringe Festival in August.

eXodus

Elon Musk’s ambitious rebrand of Twitter to ‘X’ has turned into a somewhat haunting tale of how not to handle a major brand transformation. It could be a script from a horror movie titled “How to Scare Away Your Users and Investors in 90 Days or Fewer”. The swift changes alienated a massive user base (including academics according to a recent article) and disrupted advertiser confidence (with advertising spend set to drop even further in 2025), showcasing the dire consequences of ignoring community feedback in brand strategy decisions. The lesson? Even giants can falter if they ignore user experience and brand consistency. This spooky saga is a must-read for marketers who value the balance between innovation and user experience.

Bridgerton Balls-Up

The Bridgerton Ball, much like the Willy Wonka Experience, became a stark example of expectation versus reality in themed events, marked by an overwhelming reliance on AI and inadequate planning. Held as an elegant affair meant to transport attendees to the Regency era with promises of grandeur, it instead left many disillusioned due to a variety of shortcomings, from overcrowding to subpar entertainment that failed to capture the charm and sophistication of the Bridgerton series. Both events highlight a crucial oversight in the integration of technology and event management, demonstrating the risks of leaning too heavily on AI without sufficient human oversight to ensure the authenticity and quality that live experiences demand.

Image: @tinkliketinkerbell/Instagram

The takeaways for marketers and event planners? Much like the Willy Wonka disaster, the balancing of innovative ideas with the ability to execute them is paramount, as is maintaining a human element to oversee the quality and delivery of the experience.

Flame-Grilled Fiasco

On International Women’s Day, Burger King UK cooked up controversy with a tweet that read, “Women belong in the kitchen”. The intention was to highlight a scholarship for female chefs, but the message was not received well, as the initial shock value overshadowed the progressive follow-up tweets. The tweet was meant to stir up attention but quickly flamed out, leading to an apology from the chain. What can marketers learn from this charred attempt at sparking dialogue? Brands should ensure their message is clear and appropriate for the platform and audience—missteps in digital spaces can go viral for all the wrong reasons.

Pepsi Protest Nightmare

Pepsi’s ad featuring Kendall Jenner handing a soda to a police officer during a protest tried to bottle the essence of social justice movements but instead exploded under pressure. How on earth did anyone think that trivialising a serious issue for commercial gain was a clever idea?

This disaster is proof that even the world’s biggest brands can get it wrong: deep understanding and respect for social issues are essential, lest your ad becomes a meme. Brands need to engage with social issues in a way that respects and understands the movements they depict, not reduces them to selling points.

Soul Crusher

Apple’s recent “Crush” campaign for the iPad Pro aimed to demonstrate the device’s multipurpose functionality by featuring a hydraulic press crushing various creative tools into the ultra-thin iPad – but it ended up more horror show than showstopper.

Critics, including Hugh Grant, saw it as a Silicon Valley nightmare crushing the arts, not a clever showcase of tech innovation. The mixed reactions highlight a classic conundrum: bold creative risks can sometimes backfire spectacularly.

The backlash was loud and swift, with the ad drawing ire for its tone-deaf portrayal of technology’s role in stifling human creativity rather than fostering it. The choice of imagery, juxtaposed with a lighthearted tone and the cheerful soundtrack of Sonny & Cher’s “All I Ever Need Is You,” seemed to trivialise genuine concerns about technology’s overwhelming influence on daily life. Apple, caught off-guard by the visceral reactions, issued a rare apology, acknowledging the ad did not convey the intended celebration of creativity.

This scenario serves as a reminder that even the most innovative ideas must be vetted for potential misinterpretations. It underscores that metaphors in advertising can be a double-edged sword – while they can be powerful, they can easily backfire if not aligned with audience values and perceptions.

Keen To Dive In?

If you love what we’ve shared above and want to be kept in the loop with our weekly email, The Brief, you can sign up here. We’ll only send you things we love and think you’ll find useful, and you can unsubscribe at any time. And if you need some help exploring any of the above within your own marketing strategy, or you need a rebrand, a custom website built from scratch, Google or social ads, print materials, blog posts – or the whole lot – we’d love to chat. Drop us a line here.