The top 8 Olympic marketing screw-ups

Advertisers take huge risks when they tie their products to Olympic athletes. Not only is it possible that the face of your shoe, soft drink or credit card will experience the agony of defeat on a international stage, but in some cases there’s no guarantee that the athlete or athletes will even make it to the competition.

Below are our picks for the eight biggest marketing blunders in modern Olympic history. These blunders fall into two categories: events that embarrassed a specific company or product and things that hurt the image of the Olympics as a whole.

After composing our list, we interviewed bloggers from three fields — advertising (Steve Hall of Adrants.com), sports (Chris Richardson of IntentionalFoul.com) and popular culture (Mark La Monica of Pet Rock: The Pop Culture Blog at Newsday.com) — to add their thoughts.

The answer: We have no idea.

8. What is that thing? (Atlanta 1996)
The blunder: The official mascot for the 1996 summer games was named Izzy — short for Whatizit. Even by the generally low standards of sports mascots, this ugly blue thing with Ronald McDonald shoes and a slightly maniacal grin was horrendous. Izzy was ridiculed by everyone from Bob Costas to “The Simpsons” creator Matt Groening.

Mitigating circumstances: He was still a lot less creepy and annoying than Barney.

Chris Richardson adds: “Izzy was horrible. If that’s the best you could do, then don’t even try. There’s got to be something that says ‘Olympics’ better than a blue blob.”

7. The fans stay home (Athens 2004)
The blunder: The huge sentimental impact of the Summer Olympics returning to Athens in 2004 didn’t prevent both the Greeks and potential tourists from electing to watch the competition from their living rooms. For many smaller events and even some of the bigger ones, the stands looked more like a Montreal Expos game than a competition between the world’s most elite athletes. Rows and rows of empty bleachers became a common sight — and a running joke for those watching the Games.

Mitigating circumstances: Critics predicted a much bigger debacle, suggesting that Greece wouldn’t finish construction in time for the games. The seats may have been empty, but at least the paint was dry.

Mark La Monica adds: “I remember seeing those empty stadiums and thinking, ‘Eesh. That’s not good.’”

6. The dream is over (Athens 2004)

Getty Images LeBron James didn't get much playing time on the way to earning Bronze.

The blunder: After a decade of almost comical dominance on the world stage, Carmelo Anthony, Tim Duncan and the rest of the U.S. men’s national basketball team were outshot and outhustled by a bunch of guys named Sconochini, Galanda and Basile. The highest-profile athletes to attend the 2004 Summer Olympics acted like prima donnas, didn’t play like a team and ended up with the bronze medal, barely beating Lithuania in the third-place game.

Mitigating circumstances: While the United States and the NBA were humiliated, the citizens of Argentina (gold) and Italy (silver) certainly don’t consider this a marketing blunder.

Chris Richardson adds: “I think it was just a wake-up call. It was an eye-opening moment and it made United States take things seriously. At first it was a shock, but it made us put better basketball players on the floor.”

5. Bode Miller’s meltdown (Torino 2006)

AFP/Getty Images Bode Miller made more noise away from the competition than during it.

The blunder: Bode Miller was arguably the most hyped U.S. athlete for the 2006 Winter Games, scoring huge advertising deals with Nike and Visa, among others. Then he engaged in a torrent of bad behavior, admitting to drinking booze while skiing and then downplaying the importance of Olympic competition. Some of these comments might have been forgotten or forgiven if Miller had won a single medal.

Mitigating circumstances: Skiing fans will note that the athlete has always been laid-back, and his comments were not out of character.

Steve Hall adds: “The biggest danger is aligning yourself with an Olympic athlete: You have no idea what’s going to happen. They’re going to lose, they’re not even going to go to the Olympics or they’re not going to qualify early on.”

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