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Earlier this year, Wendy's, the fast-food restaurant chain beloved by many for its edgy social media presence, angered virtually the entire online world after news broke that it was considering charging different prices at different parts of the day—a tactic associated with airlines and ridesharing apps.
Immediately, negative headlines and hashtags calling to boycott the company rose to the top of people's feeds. Wendy's then went on the defensive and released a statement, saying it never intended to charge customers more at times of peak demand—on the contrary, it planned to lower them when store traffic was low.
Intrigued by this PR disaster, Reddit user Lushsweet made a post on the platform, asking everyone to list other prime examples of public backlash. And folks delivered! Here are some of the most memorable entries from the discussion with thousands of comments.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Papa John's complaining that he would have to add 10 cents to the price of a pizza if he were forced to provide healthcare to his full-time employees.
People were disgusted, sales tanked, stock tanked.
This was only one of a series of bone headed, tone def, racist, and ignorant statements by the CEO. The guy just couldn't shut up.
John Schnatter was removed as CEO.
Many customers never returned.
We got in touch with Lushsweet, and the Redditor mentioned that they got the idea for the post when Wendy's was facing significant backlash over announcing their surge pricing.
"I just thought this definitely hasn't been the first time that a company made an announcement and tried to backtrack on some new policy/product/etc.," they told Bored Panda.
"Another that came to mind was when IHOP announced that instead of sticking with what has made them well-known for years, they were transitioning into burgers. It backfired so badly that we haven't heard about an IHOP burger since. And clearly, there have been many more examples of this, as seen in the post, and it was all really interesting to read about."
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#2
Apple slowing down iPhone 7s so people would buy the iPhone 10. They said it was to protect people’s batteries from failing prematurely or some nonsense. Another example of a company just trying to protect you and save you money! They didn’t really “take it back” but everyone kind of knew what was happening and a lot of people lost trust in Apple.
Chihuahua Mama 4 months ago (edited)
Why people still continue to use those awful, overpriced phones, I'll never understand (edit: I know I'll get downvoted but oh well)
#3
Cadbury announced they were going to change their formula to include palm oil in their chocolate manufacturing process, and there was a huge uproar. Lots of people boycotted them or threatened to boycott them if palm oil was used as it's incredibly environmentally damaging. Cadbury's walked it back shortly after and never mentioned switching the formula again.
However, while some people see these as calls for accountability, others view them as censorship and punishment. We've always challenged each other's views throughout history, but the internet—especially social media—has changed how, when, and where these interactions happen. Now, a huge number of people can go online and call out others for their behavior or words, and it's easier than ever to rally groups to join in.
"I do feel that social media has definitely empowered people to speak up more," Lushsweet said. "News can spread like wildfire now... [and] a tweet can make or break a company, person, or idea. All it takes is one viral tweet, reel, or TikTok for everyone to get the message and for [explosive discourse] to follow."
#4
Adidas burned up like a billion dollars worth of products because Kanye West doesn’t like Jews.
#5
Back in the '70s, the Kentucky river flooded in the Appalachian region around Harlan, KY. The area is full of dirt-poor people, and huge numbers of people lost everything from flooding.
Hill's Department stores was a regional chain of variety stores (like Walmart). They had a store in the area which flooded. So, what do with all of the store's water-damaged stock? They decided to put it all on trucks, ship it to Lexington, and hold a tent sale to get rid of it. They ran ads announcing the sale, saying "our loss is your gain".
Well, the public told them pretty quickly what they _should_ have done with the damaged stock. Pretty quickly they cancelled the sale, shipped everything back to Harlan, and donated it to the relief effort.
The Pew Research Center found that 58% of U.S. adults say calling out others on social media is more likely to hold people accountable, while 38% say it is more likely to punish people who don’t deserve it.
One in five Americans who see this type of behavior as a form of accountability point to reasons that relate to how helpful calling out others can be. For instance, some explained in an open-ended question that they associate this behavior with moving toward a better society or educating others on their mistakes so they can do better in the future.
However, a third (35%) of those who see calling out other people on social media as a form of unjust punishment cite reasons that relate to people who call out others being rash or judgmental. Some of these Americans see this kind of behavior as overreacting or unnecessarily lashing out at others without considering the context or intentions of the original poster. Others emphasize that what is considered offensive can be subjective.
#6
The "pasty tax".
In the UK the government tried to introduce higher taxes on hot food from bakeries like sausage rolls, Cornish pasties etc. and the country basically rioted until the govt u-turned.
There were protests outside downing street and smear campaigns against food companies seen to be complicit. It was a wild time but quite a proud moment for the country when it was reversed.
Imagine what we could do if we cared this much about other issues!
#7
In 2014, Apple automatically added U2's new Songs of Innocence album to the libraries of every iTunes customer for free -- more than 500 million customers. If you had an auto-downloads enabled on your iTunes, the album was automatically downloaded to your devices.
People hated this. As a result, Apple created a webpage dedicated to deleting the album from people's accounts.
But in the end, Lushsweet believes that it's all for the greater good. "The internet is basically made up of people. It's the people posting, creating, interacting, and reacting that make it what it is. I'd rather have the internet available for us to gather information, gain knowledge, and have conversations than not have it," the author of the viral post explained.
"Of course, there are people who misuse it, and with new technologies like deep fakes and AI, it's becoming harder for some to tell what's real and what's fake. But, just like in society, there are people doing harmful things with the internet, and there are people using it to drive real change."
#8
JCPenney tried a whole tactic of "We won't have any sales or coupons anymore, our prices will just always be low". Instead, sales tanked, the stock prices dropped into single digits, stores ended up closed left and right, and JCPenney barely exists anymore.
#9
Through much of the 20th century, the biggest beer brand in the world was Schlitz. Budweiser was a distant second and gaining ground. Schlitz new CEO, son of the longstanding CEO decided the way to beat Budweiser was to make beer with a shorter brewing time. He ordered the formula changed to corn syrup from malted barley, added a new yeast to cut brewing time. Overnight consumers started complaining that the new beer was flat, cloudy and full of flakes of yeast, which turned off the loyal following. They started recalling the beer which left no beer to sell to the marketplace. Schlitz plunged from the number one brand to obscurity. Anheuser-Busch could not have come up with a better way to sabotage their competitor.
#10
The Internet bullied Paramount into fixing Sonic for the movies.
#11
The game engine Unity introduced a per-install runtime fee - meaning anytime someone installed a Unity game you made, Unity would charge you. Details as to how this would be tracked and billed, how multiple installs per user or machine would be handled, how malicious installs would be prevented, how installs from prepaid deals like Gamepass would be counted, were fully absent.
Unity is one of two most popular non -proprietary game engines by far, and favored by smaller devs, who could lose all their profits with this arrangement.This alone outraged the entire game dev community, but the week of shifting explanations and rules changed on the fly really put gas on the fire.
Developers began preparing to move away from Unity, the stock price crashed, massive partners like Microsoft appeared blindsided. In the end, Unity had to retract the policy and create a new one where devs could choose between the runtime fee and a tiered percentage cut (the normal way). And the CEO had to step down. And then the company laid off 25% of their employees (although that was likely due to the same overgrowth that caused them to try the runtime fee in the first place). It was a massive disaster for the company and I would say their reputation has not recovered.
#12
BMW had plans to charge a monthly subscription fee for heated seats and adaptive cruise control. When you would order the car you could opt to pay for those to be installed or not not. But they would installed them anyway and then you could pay a monthly fee afterwards if you changed your mind.
Sand Ers 4 months ago
They were installed already at the factory. The only thing that happened when you bought the car was that those options were turned on if you “subscribed” to them. It’’s still coming. The only thing that will stop it is buyer protection regulations prohibiting it. Along with “right to repair”, we need a “right to own what you buy” campaign.
#13
At one point when bourbon exploded in popularity (largely due to growth in the SE Asian market), Maker's Mark was faced with not having enough product to meet projected demand, since it takes quite a while to produce. They announced they were going to slightly lower the alcohol percentage of their flagship product to "stretch" the supply. This idea went over like a lead balloon and was crushed almost immediately.
I_imagine_even_worse_w***s 4 months ago
I actually recall this and I seemingly wrongly assumed it was to do with producing a standard percentage which would then be distributed globally. A friend owns a distillery for whiskey and I know some of their exports are lower percentages because of laws in thay country and IIRC a few countries also had a preference for the slightly lower percent...35% v 40%.
#14
In 2010, gaming company Activision-Blizzard (who ran World of Warcraft among other things) proposed to put players' real names on their forum posts. This...did not go well. *At all.* Doxxing of children to make a point was involved.
They did not go through with their (terrible) plan.
This incident is usually referred to as the "Real ID Fiasco" among players who were around at the time.
#15
Pretty much every Australian bullied the snack brand Shapes into reverting back to their original recipe after changing it, so the new one only lasted a few weeks on the shelves. These crackers are a national delicacy and the new flavours genuinely tasted like s**t. Really great to have seen a nation band together for the greater good 👍🏼.
I_imagine_even_worse_w***s 4 months ago (edited)
I soooooo wish we had these here! I found something pretty close recently but just not the same.
#16
Microsoft Xbox One was supposed to be always online and removed it after fan backlash.
CrazyKnitter 4 months ago
As someone who's internet can be called "spotty" on a good day, and I am a gamer, this is still really frustrating. Sure the console doesn't have to be "online" all the time, but most games now require an Internet connection and if it's a single person local game, it's just dumb and I can't play it.
#17
Cricut is a brand of cutting machine used for a variety of crafting purposes. It's existed in many incarnations, but current machines utilize proprietary Cricut Design Space software in conjunction with a machine and a variety of blade options and accessories to cut complex shapes out of a wide variety of materials. They are most commonly used in the crafting world for cutting out vinyl to make custom tshirts, tumbler cups, ornaments, et cetera.
Users can purchase a Cricut Design Space premium subscription for $10/month which gives them access to a vast library of premade assets such as fonts, shapes, and predesigned projects. Since the software is reliant on .SVG files, and those can't be created within Cricut Design Space, the subscription works well for non-techie casual crafters who don't know how or don't feel like designing and converting their own SVGs in a separate program. If you are savvy enough to make your own SVGs (or if you buy/download them from other sources) you can import them into Cricut Design Space and use them. You just can't create them within Design Space.
A couple years back, Cricut made the announcement that a paid premium subscription would now be required for all users who want to import more than 10 SVG files into Design Space per month. The majority percentage of Cricut users who create projects to make money were the kind of users who created their own SVGs, and depending on complexity, *ONE* project could require 10 uploads. For all but the most casual users, this was basically Cricut forcing them into a subscription that they didn't need.
On top of all this, Design Space is absolute garbage software. It's buggy as hell, it's designed for simplicity over efficiency, certain functions barely work at all, so on. Since you can't use any other software for Cricut machines, there's no real reason for them to bother to make it good. So they don't.
The backlash was so instant, so intense, and so immense that Cricut walked their decision back very quickly. However, the whole thing caused a giant mistrust for the brand in general (which was already known for extremely overpriced accessories and terrible software) and Cricut's reputation has been damaged in the crafting community ever since.
The Phantom Stranger 4 months ago
The term gets thrown around pretty freely today, but for those who don't understand, this is one of the main characteristics of modern "late-stage capitalism"--in essence, you no longer fully own anything. While you may have purchased the equipment, you are basically "renting" the ability to use it from the company. This is true of streaming and online gaming services, smart appliances, and even most vehicles. Pretty much anything you own that is wi-fi enabled can be remotely disabled by the manufacturer if you violate the terms of service. If you can find it on YouTube or on demand, there is an episode of the show "Adam Ruins Everything" that explains this idea much better than I can in a brief post.
#18
When the Covid lockdowns started hitting, the city of Denver announced that all liquor stores and [weed] dispenseries would be shuttered for the duration. Hordes of people scrambled to these shops and formed huge lines to stock up.
Two hours later, the city announced that NO, those shops would not be forced to close, that they were deemed essential services.
[https://denverite.com/2021/03/22/looking-back-at-denvers-prohibition-of-2020-a-symbol-of-the-citys-covid-moment/](https://denverite.com/2021/03/22/looking-back-at-denvers-prohibition-of-2020-a-symbol-of-the-citys-covid-moment/).
Aaron Parker 4 months ago (edited)
This is what happens when government tries prohibition. People want their dru gs because life is hard and it's completely understandable to want a release regularly. The government can f**k right off on this matter entirely.
#19
Monster threatened to sue a Vermont microbrewery.
We crashed their website, pulled Monster from the shelves in a good portion of the state, and Bernie Sanders called them stupid.
#20
There was a car rental company that installed speed monitoring devices on their cars and charge you every time you went over the speed limit. I want to say Avis? Didn't last long
Edit: Acme was the name of the company, this was back in 2001. There's a New York Times article about it.
BewilderedBanana 4 months ago (edited)
Must have been that darned coyote doing all the speeding, chasing the roadrunner :)
#21
Tangential: I think Wendy's branded this horribly. My first though was: well I guess I'll never go to Wendy's since I'll never know what things will cost before I get there. But if they marketed it as 20% off during off peak hours or 30% after 9:30 PM or something I'd probably think of going there if I needed an early or late meal. Actual surge pricing for fast food is dumb, when a school bus of kids show up on a sports or band trip are they going to jack the prices up on all of them? Specific days/times with higher/lower prices seems more viable.
#22
Taco Bell discontinued stocking potatoes and the people rioted. .
#23
Valve announced a plan to charge for mods almost a decade ago.
Internet backlash against this was swift and powerful enough to get them to backtrack.
It was an especially surprising move for a company that the Internet considered "good" (as good as a for-profit corp could be, realistically).
#24
Tesla is now putting normal round steering wheels into model s/x instead of the "yoke" they tried so hard to push onto people for about 2 years.
Multa Nocte 4 months ago
You'd think a yoke is what someone who buys a Teslas would want, just for the symbolism alone.
#25
X box one was going to have only digital game sales.
They got beat up in the media so bad they quickly pivoted to also selling games on disc like before.
#26
Netflix trying to spin off their DVD service into Qwikster, separate from its fledgling streaming service in 2011. Stock tanked 80% in part due to that, was shelved.
On a side note, billionaire investor Carl Icahn bought 11% of Netflix stock at the lows for $650M. He was going to agitate to sell the company, but the stock quickly ran up. He sold it at a 5x gain over the objection of his son...would have been worth about $25-30B today..
#27
The San Francisco 49ers tried to introduce a new logo in the early 90’s and it was honestly pretty ugly and bad. A “what were you trying to accomplish?” decision and this was in the years when they were winning like every other Super Bowl so people had grown attached to the look the team had worn to great success. Pre internet so the fans flooded the team with letters and calls and picket lines outside the office and the team said “fine we won’t use the new logo” .
Sand Ers 4 months ago
I remember that one well. When the backlash happened DeBartolo and the front office were mystified. They’d tested it before announcing it, and it had tested very well. Turns out the test they were using was to test for memorability, and it was very… memorable. Apparently it never occurred to anybody to ask the focus groups if they -liked- it.
#28
Just last month WWE caused a global fan backlash when The Rock came back and forced out Cody Rhodes from wrestling Roman Reigns in the main event at this year's WrestleMania. The backlash was so severe that WWE not only put Cody back in the main event but The Rock realized he had to turn heel so the booing and anti Rock chants made sense to the casual audience.
The Phantom Stranger 4 months ago
Dwayne Johnson was quickly building a reputation as one of the nicest and most bankable actors in Hollywood, but his arrogant and egotistical behavior surrounding the release of "Black Adam" not only put the final coffin nail in the DCEU, but also severely damaged his reputation with fans. I realize he's probably busy filming the live action version of "Moana", but you used to see him everywhere all the time, while now he has almost become invisible.
#29
EA received huge backlash for adding loot boxes into the modern Battlefront 2 game. They actually basically removed them but there is a remnant still in the game. When you unlock new guns/cosmetics, it uses the loot box animation to show you what you unlocked. There is no way to get loot boxes in the game and the currency you unlock can directly unlock cosmetics now though.
#30
If you follow tech the most recent one would probably be Nvidia with the RTX 4080. At first Nvidia launched a RTX 4080 16GB for $1199 and a RTX 4080 12GB for $899. The problem was the RTX 4080 12GB used an entirely different GPU and was significantly slower rather than just being a card with less VRAM as the name implied. Nvidia “unlaunched” the RTX 4080 12GB and relaunched it as the RTX 4070 Ti at $799.
What do you think ?
R Dennis 4 months ago
I guess most people are too young to remember the "New Coke" fiasco... my future FIL was one of the people who stockpiled cases of the old Coke.
The Other Guest 4 months ago
I was also surpised it didn't make the list. It was a pretty big deal back in the day.
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e gads 4 months ago
Llona was smoking some gud stuff when she made this list.few repeats and a couple that dont even make sense.i think a modern day third grader could do better
Bartlet for World Domination 4 months ago
They do make sense, it's just that you forgot the question a few dozen in.
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R Dennis 4 months ago
I guess most people are too young to remember the "New Coke" fiasco... my future FIL was one of the people who stockpiled cases of the old Coke.
The Other Guest 4 months ago
I was also surpised it didn't make the list. It was a pretty big deal back in the day.
Load More Replies... e gads 4 months ago
Llona was smoking some gud stuff when she made this list.few repeats and a couple that dont even make sense.i think a modern day third grader could do better
Bartlet for World Domination 4 months ago
They do make sense, it's just that you forgot the question a few dozen in.
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