For me, one such example is a television commercial by Burlington Coat Factory.

The creative team framed this in a “Devil Wears Prada” attempt, with a condescending boss interacting with a young employee.

The boss walks in, tosses her coat to the employee and asks, “Where are we on the fall fashion event?”

The employee begins modeling different outfits and at the end, the boss asks the employee “How do you afford all those fashions on what I pay you?”

 What?

When did “update me on a corporate event” become “show me your new wardrobe”?

These are two different concepts that never do end up tying in together.

Takeaway points to consider:

1 – Run your campaign by someone who has no idea what message you’re attempting to convey to see if they understand it
2 – Don’t get so caught up in a theme that your message loses its relevance
3 – A bad campaign is NOT better than no campaign. A bad ad raises bad brand awareness. Make sure your business only puts out materials that make sense and trigger a desired response.