August 27, 1963
- E. I. Du Pont de Nemours and Company registered "Corfam" trademark
first used August 15, 1962 (poromeric material-i.e. microporous and
permeable coriaceous sheet material for genearlized use in the
industrial arts); carbon-based, synthetic substitute for leather;
January 27, 1964 - introduced Corfam for uses with shoes,
handbags, belts, suitcases; company predicted that 25% of America's
shoes would be made of Corfam by 1984; 1971 - production
ceased; synthetic leather snubbed by customers despite one of
best-prepared products in terms of market, technology development;
described as "Du Pont's $100-Million Edsel" (Leonard Sloane, New York
Times, April 11, 1971).
Advertising
-
Top 13 Worst Advertising
Slogan Translations Ever (source: http://www.fanpop.com/external/14007)
1) Coca-Cola name in China was first
read as "Kekoukela", meaning "Bite the Wax Tadpole" or "Female
Horse Stuffed with Wax", depending on the dialect. Coke then
researched 40,000 characters to find a phonetic equivalent "kokoukole",
translating into "Happiness in the Mouth"; 2) General Motors's
Chevrolet Nova car in Spanish in Central and South America: "No va",
"It Doesn't Go"; 3) Dairy Association's huge success with
the campaign "Got Milk?" in Mexico: "Are You Lactating?";4)
American T-shirt maker's printed "I saw the Pope" (el Papa)
shirts to promote Pope's visit read: "I Saw the Potato" (la papa);
5) Braniff Airlines new leather first class seats ad
campaign (1977-78) in Mexican market: "Fly In Leather" meant "Fly
Naked" (vuela en cuero); 6) Frank Perdue's chicken slogan,
"It takes a strong man to make a tender chicken" in Spanish; "it
takes an aroused man to make a chicken affectionate";7) Colgate
introduced a toothpaste in France called Cue: name of notorious
porno magazine; 8) Gerber used same packaging in Africa as
in the US: smiling baby on the label in Africa indicated what was
inside ( many people can't read); 9) Pepsi "Come Alive With
the Pepsi Generation" slogan in Chinese: "Pepsi Brings Your
Ancestors Back From the Grave";10) Coors's "Turn It Loose"
slogan in Spanish: "Suffer From Diarrhea"; 11) Clairol's
"Mist Stick," a curling iron in Germany: "Manure Stick"; 12)
Electrolux vacuum in the U.S.: "Nothing Sucks like an
Electrolux"; 13) Parker Pen's slogan "It won't leak in your
pocket and embarrass you" in Mexico: "It won't leak in your pocket
and make you pregnant."
March 2008 - Blender.com list of
20 worst mistakes in recording industry history: 1) major labels
squashed Napster; 2) Decca Records A&R exec, Dick Rowe,
passed on Beatles, brushed off their manager, Brian Epstein; 3)
Motown sold for pittance; 4) post payola - labels paid to get
airplay for huge artists stations would have spun anyway; 5)
Recording Industry Association of America sued 30 year-old, single
mother of two, earning $36,000 a year, for illegally sharing mp3 files
of 24 songs; 6) 1978 - Casablanca label shipped million copies of
four solo albums by each member of Kiss ("shipped platinum"); hundreds
of thousands unsold, returned; 7) 1962 - Bob Dylan got out of
1961 publishing deal with Leeds/Duchess (returned $1,000 advance); new
publisher, M. Witmark & Sons, received 237 songs (worth $ tens of
millions in future) in first three years; 8) Warner Music dropped
Ice-T ("Cop Killer"); sold Interscope to rival Universal which soon
became biggest record company in world; 9) 2005 - Sony BMG sold
millions of CDs with copy-protection software that automatically
installed a "rootkit" on users’ PCs; accused of spying on customers’
listening habits, forced to pay several million dollars to settle
class-action lawsuits; 10) Columbia Records signed Alicia Keys
for reported $400,000, tried to change her style; she left, signed with
J Records, sold more than 20 million albums; dumped 50 Cent after shot
nine times; became an unstoppable one-man money factory at Interscope;
11) David Geffen signed Neil Young; filed a $3 million
breach-of-contract suit for not making "Neil Young" types of records;
Young countersued for $21 million; settled out of court; 12) 1998
- Geffen Records paid Axl Rose $1 million to complete Guns N’ Roses (32
platinum hits) fifth album + million more if delivered soon; album never
completed, at cost to Geffen of $13 million; 13) 1996 - Warner
Bros. signed R.E.M. to 5-album contract for reported $80 million; most
costly record deal in history, allowed R.E.M. to keep masters of all
Warner releases; generated one of lowest returns, forfeited future
revenues generated by band’s ’80s and early-’90s popular songs; 14)
1960 - Jerry Wexler (Atlantic Records) signed contract with Stax
label president Jim Stewart to market, distribute all Stax releases;
1967 - Atlantic became owner of any Stax release it handled (indicated
by 'fine print') as Stax had signed away its catalogue and future;
15) 1999 - MCA gave Irish teen Carly Hennessy $100,000
advance, $5,000 a month in living expenses, apartment in Marina Del Rey,
CA, spent roughly $2.2 million in all on her 2001 record debut; sold 378
copies, = label's cost of $5,820 per copy sold; 16) June 2001 -
Reprise label (AOL Time Warner subsidiary) paid about $300,000 for Wilco
album; didn't like it, fired band, let band keep masters to album; Wilco
signed with Nonesuch (AOL Time Warner subsidiary); AOL paid twice;
Wilco’s best seller to date; 17) Thomas Edison's Edison Records
made two fatal errors - records worked only on Edison’s players,
personal taste governed releases (no jazz, waltzes and foxtrots);
October 1929 - closed; 18) 2000 - BMG forced Clive Davis, founder
of Arista label in 1975, to retire (company policy); artists complained
loudly; BMG gave Davis own label, J Records, invested $150 million; 2002
- BMG paid $50 million to buy J Record; 2004 - ousted Davis's successor
at Arista, hired Davis as CEO of BMG North America; 19) early
1980s - music industry phased out vinyl singles in favor of cassettes
and later, CDs; abandoned singles completely; consumers stopped going to
record shops, illegally downloaded singles; 20) 1989 - A&R
department at MCA Records signed Pretty Boy Floyd for about $1 million;
debut album peaked at No. 130 on Billboard charts; 1991 - label dropped
band; missed chance to sign Nirvana.
(Coca-Cola), Donald R. Keough (2008).
The Ten Commandments for Business Failure. (New York, NY:
Portfolio, 208 p.). Former President, COO at Coca-Cola; chairman
of Allen & Company. Business failures.
Responsible foe New Coke fiasco; how companies get into trouble,
believe in infallibility; "how-not-to" book; commandments: Quit Taking
Risks; Be Inflexible; Assume Infallibility; Put All Your Faith in
Experts; Send Mixed Messages; and Be Afraid of the Future; "anyone who
follows my formula will be a highly successful loser."
(One. Tel), Paul Barry (2002).
Rich
Kids: How the Murdochs and
Packers Lost $950 Million in One.Tel. (Milsons Point, N.S.W.: Random
House Australia, 392 p.). Murdoch, Rupert, 1931- ; Packer, Kerry;
One.Tel (Firm); Telecommunication--Australia; Business
failures--Australia.
Bill Adler, Jr. and Julie Houghton (1997).
America's Stupidest
Business Decisions: 101 Blunders, Flops and Screwups. (New York,
NY: Quill, 238 p.). Consumer Goods, Product Management, Brand
Management.
Merrill R. Chapman (2003).
In Search of Stupidity: Over 20 Years
of High-Tech Marketing Disasters. (Berkeley, CA: Apress, 252 p.).
Computer software industry--Management--Case studies; Computer
industry--Management--Case studies; Business failures--Case studies.
Matt Haig (2003).
Brand Failures: The Truth About the 100
Biggest Branding Mistakes of All Time. (Sterling, VA: Kogan Page,
310 p.). Brand name products--Marketing; Brand loyalty; Brand choice.
Robert F. Hartley (1987).
Bullseyes and Blunders: Stories of
Business Success & Failure. (New York, NY: Wiley, 253 p.).
Industrial management--Case studies; Marketing--Management--Case
studies; Success in business--Case studies; Business failures--Case
studies.
Jill Herbers (1994).
The Business Disaster Book of Days: The
World's Greatest Financial Mishaps, Follies, & Remarkable Events.
(Seacaucus, NJ: Carol Pub. Group, 162 p.). Business--Humor.
Adam Horowitz and the editors of Business 2.0 (2004).
The
Dumbest Moments in Business History: Useless Products, Ruinous Deals,
Clueless Bosses, and Other Signs of Unintelligent Life in the
Workplace. (New York, NY: Portfolio, 208 p.). Industrial
management--History--Anecdotes; Business failures--History--Anecdotes;
Business history--Anecdotes.
eds. Forest W. Horton Jr. and Dennis Lewis (1991).
Great
Information Disasters: Twelve Prime Examples of How Information
Mismanagement Led to Human Misery, Political Misfortune and Business
Failure. (London, UK: Aslib, 218 p.). Errors, Popular -- Case
studies.
Philip J. Kaplan (2002).
F'd Companies: Spectacular Dot.com
Flameouts. (New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, p.). Business
failures--United States--Case studies; Internet industry--United
States--Case studies; Electronic business--United States--Case
studies. See also John Cassidy ("Dot.con").
Danny Miller (1990).
The Icarus Paradox: How Exceptional
Companies Bring About Their Own Downfall: New Lessons in the Dynamics
of Corporate Success, Decline, and Renewal. (New York, NY:
HarperBusiness, 306 p.). Business failures--United States--Case
studies.
Paul C. Nutt (2002).
Why Decisions Fail: Avoiding the Blunders and Traps that Lead to
Debacles. (San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 332
p.). Emeritus Professor, Faculty of Management Sciences, Fisher
College of Business (Ohio State University). Decision making.
400
decisions made by top managers (products and services, pricing and
markets, personnel policy, technology acquisition, strategic
reorganization); 2 of 3 decisions based on failure prone, questionable
tactics; key errors, successful alternatives.
James Robert Parish (2006).
Fiasco: A History of Hollywood’s Iconic Flops. (Hoboken, NJ:
Wiley, 368 p.). Motion pictures--California--Los Angeles--History;
Motion pictures--United States--Plots, themes, etc.
Most sensational failures in modern Hollywood
history.
David A. Ricks (1983).
Big Business Blunders: Mistakes in
Multinational Marketing. (Homewood, IL: Dow Jones-Irwin, 158 p.).
Export marketing; International business enterprises.
--- (1999).
Blunders in International Business. (Malden, MA:
Blackwell Business, 172 p. [3rd ed.]). International business
enterprises--Management--Case studies; Business failures--Case studies
Joel E. Ross and Michael J. Kami (1973).
Corporate Management in
Crisis; Why the Mighty Fall. (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall,
263 p.). Industrial management--United States--Case studies; Big
business--United States--Case studies.
Scott A. Sandage (2005). Born Losers: A History of Failure in
America. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 384 p.).
Associate Professor of History (Carnegie Mellon University). Social
values--United States--History--19th century; Losers--United
States--History--19th century; Failure (Psychology)--United
States--History--19th century; Capitalism--Social aspects--United
States--History--19th century; Identity (Psychology)--United
States--History--19th century; Stigma (Social psychology); Social
status--United States--History--19th century.
Jagdish N. Sheth (2007).
The Self-Destructive Habits of Good Companies…And How to Break Them.
(Upper Saddle River, NJ: Wharton School Publishing, 304 p.). Charles
H. Kellstadt Chair of Marketing in the Goizueta Business School (Emory
University). Success in business; Business failures--Case studies;
Industrial management. 7 bad practices that can
lead to failure (denial, arrogance, complacency, incumbency, competitive myopia, volume obsession,
territorial impulse).
Robert Sobel (1999).
When Giants Stumble: Classic Business
Blunders and How to Avoid Them. (Paramus, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 350
p.). Business failures--United States--Case studies; Success in
business--United States--Case studies.
Ed. Daniel F. Spulber (2002).
Famous Fables of Economics: Myths of Market Failures. (Malden,
MA: Blackwell Publishers, 312 p.). Elinor Hobbs Distinguished
Professor of International Business and Professor of Management
Strategy at the Kellogg School of Management (Northwestern
University). Business failures--History; Economic policy--History.
Walter Stewart (2005).
Belly Up: The Spoils of Bankruptcy.
(Toronto, ON: McClelland & Stewart, 293 p.). Bankruptcy--Canada;
Bankruptcy--United States; Corporate debt--Canada; Corporate
debt--United States; Faillite--Canada; Faillite--États-Unis;
Sociétés--Dettes--Canada; Sociétés--Dettes--États-Unis.
Trevor Sykes (1988).
Two Centuries of Panic: A History of
Corporate Collapses in Australia. (Boston, MA: Allen & Unwin, 593
p.). Business failures--Australia--History;
Corporations--Australia--History; Businesspeople--Australia--History.
--- (1996).
The Bold Riders: Behind Australia's Corporate
Collapses. (St. Leonard's, NSW, AU: Allen & Unwin, 654 p. [2nd
ed.]). Business failures--Australia; Capitalists and
financiers--Australia; Corporations--Australia.
__________________________________________________
Business History Links
101 Dumbest Moments
in Business
http://www.business2.com/dumbest/
In a perfect world, a list like this would not
exist. In a perfect world, businesses would be run with the utmost
integrity and competence. But ours is, alas, an imperfect world, and
if we must live in one where Enron, Geraldo Rivera, and Cottonelle
Fresh Rollwipes exist, the least we can do is catalog the absurdities.
The Museum of E-Failure
http://www.disobey.com/ghostsites/
The Museum of E-Failure bears witness to the dot.bomb phenomenon,
presenting the last images of the front pages of failed Websites.
Steve Baldwin, who maintains the site, explains, "It is my hope that
these screenshots may serve as a reminder of the glory, folly, and
historically unique design sensibilities of the Web's Great Gilded Age
(1995-2001)." The sites are arranged in a long list, with recent
additions on the top of the page. Clicking on a site name brings up a
screen shot of the site's farewell front page. A sort of virtual
graveyard, the Museum of E-Failure represents a memorial on the side
of the information highway.