The Spin has seen its fair share of marketing missteps, translation and measurement gone wrong and headlines that make you do a double take. Here are some eyebrow-raising examples that the Spin discovered including some very misleading ads, dates and headlines from the month gone by.
1. This billboard on Dubai roads appears to have given Arabic punctuation the English-language treatment. Unfortunately, grammar does not always believe in cultural exchange. Proofreading, unfortunately, seems to have been lost in translation. Period.
2. Whoever purchases this cooker may be in for a big surprise and in the need of considerably more kitchen space. According to the dimensions listed in the ad, the appliance appears to occupy roughly the same footprint as a small bedroom. The Spin can only hope it makes it safely through the door.
3. In an ironic twist, this tech giant’s AI-powered workforce guide may inadvertently reassure nervous employees concerned about automation everywhere. The ‘Human Ressource Guide’ still appears to require a degree of human involvement.
4. This insurance ad appears to offer an unusually wide range of services, including some very undesirable ones. One imagines a few carefully placed additional words might have helped clarify the intended offering.
5. This grocery listing appears unable to settle on a coherent menu direction. The image suggests an sweet ending in the form of a cake, while the accompanying description makes a passionate case for salads. The Spin assumes this is what fusion cuisine now looks like and it’s safe to say this is one dish we’d be sitting out.
6. AI may well be transforming education, although this textbook appears to have left rather more evidence of the process behind than intended. We don’t know about database management, but the data managed on this page has definitely gone wrong.
7. This child safety campaign appears to have adopted a somewhat experimental approach to supervision. While the parent remains comfortably behind the gate, the toddler has been left to negotiate matters independently with the cat.
8. This advertisement appears to have lost a letter along the way. Readers are instead encouraged to ‘ook now’, which admittedly does have a certain urgency to it.
