Every year, someone somewhere makes a real gaffe when talking about or defending their brands. Quite often, these are people at the coal face - that all-important marketing touch-point where the consumer comes into contact with the product.
These are my choices of people who really didn't do the brands they represent any favours at all. These are not made up - they are real. Seriously.
"I don't blame you for not wanting one of these sandwiches; I've seen where they're made and I wouldn't eat them either." - SAA cabin crew member to a passenger who declined the offer of a sandwich for lunch on a flight between Cape Town and Johannesburg.
"You must take these and put them back; it's not my job." - A shop assistant in the change rooms at Woolworths in Cape Town when a customer put three unwanted clothing items on her returns counter.
"If you live near the coast you must expect your Harley to rust." - Response from a very defensive workshop assistant at a Harley Davidson dealership in Cape Town when shown rust on the foot pegs and spokes on a less-than-a-year-old Harley.
"That's perfectly normal." - Response from a Toyota dealer when a customer complained that the chassis on his Landcruiser was so skew that the front and back wheels didn't line up.
"The video you have chosen cannot be played because Apple Inc has restricted the use of Adobe Reader on your iPad. Until such time as Apple Inc lifts this restrictions this problem will remain." - On screen message to a frustrated Apple iPad owner trying to watch some video news footage.
" I think the environmental impact of this disaster is likely to have been very, very modest." - BP CEO Tony Hayward, on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
Apart from being a corporate marketing analyst, advisor and media commentator, Chris Moerdyk is a former chairman of Bizcommunity. He was head of strategic planning and public affairs for BMW South Africa and spent 16 years in the creative and client service departments of ad agencies, ending up as resident director of Lindsay Smithers-FCB in KwaZulu-Natal. Email Chris on moc.liamg@ckydreom and follow him on Twitter at @chrismoerdyk.
