Target’s And Budweiser’s Marketing Missteps

History is replete with examples of consumer-facing companies that shot themselves in the foot with tone-deaf marketing or merchandising. Still, as blunders go, it would be hard to imagine worse debacles than the recent decisions by Target and Budweiser. These two otherwise sober companies mangled their brands and ended up causing more, not less, grief for the groups they were trying to support.

Should they have tried to market and grow their businesses by approaching these opportunities? Perhaps yes. Should they have done it in the way they approached it? Definitely not. More on that in a minute.