The best news gaffes of 2012

By {/%BYLINE%} {%AUTHOR%}Alan Pearcy{/%AUTHOR%} {%TITLE%}The best news gaffes of 2012{/%TITLE%} {%ALTERNATIVEURL%}{/%ALTERNATIVEURL%} {%IMAGE%}/Uploads/Public/spider-news-bloopers-2012.jpg{/%IMAGE%} {%ROLE%}87d65c27-6e78-4e5c-b423-78d47d4f2768{/%ROLE%} {%KICKER%}Media Relations{/%KICKER%} {%CATEGORIESID%}9b04de1d-f7bc-4de7-842e-c9c833ff24e9, 055d8a23-ee23-4f9c-a2f4-df030843f312, 5b5f5480-7a63-458a-90a4-0b98007ec3f7, 1fd4d0a9-bbe2-4b5c-af5c-11dce5b9983e, e8e0f32d-5d24-41be-86cc-a8fd29cc4619{/%CATEGORIESID%} {%CAPTION%}At least so far. Plus, Reebok condones cheating, woman walks off a pier while texting, ‘Blossom’ gets an Old Navy reboot, the official nail polish of Barack Obama, a pregnant Jessica Simpson too risqué for Safeway,, more.{/%CAPTION%} {%BODYCOPY%}As investor relations departments prepare the first quarter reports due out next month, those in media relations can enjoy a different kind of Q1 report—a news blooper reel of the best 2012 on-air gaffes so far. Reebok committed a gaffe of its own before pulling an overseas campaign that made its way onto the Internet. The company’s ads ran under the tagline, “Cheat on your girlfriend, not your workout.” Need we say anything more? Another incident that we’ll offer without comment: A woman walked off a pier while sending a text. Maybe she was tweeting a pic from Instagram, the hot photo app that marketers should pay attention to—particularly these three nuggets on how to use the app to promote big brands. Meanwhile, Old Navy is relying more on the nostalgic powers of ’90s television, with its newest commercial featuring former “Blossom” stars Mayim Bialik, Joey Lawrence. Whoa—where’s Six? [Related: Read Watch “9 unforgettable TV commercials from the ’90s.”] These days, it’s ABC Family’s “Pretty Little Liars” that has audiences more than tuning in. The show’s season 2 finale smashed social media records as the most-buzzed about show in TV history. Fans tweeted 645,000 times during the broadcast, hitting a rate of 32,000 tweets per minute. Over the course of the day, 667,000 users mentioned the show in a whopping 1.6 million tweets. Despite the intense buzz, Advertising Age predicts the box office figures for the opening weekend of “The Hunger Games” won’t match the hype. Maybe you don’t have time to catch a movie, but if you have a couple of minutes, watch President Obama put a couple hecklers in their place while speaking at Ohio State on Thursday: Speaking of Obama, you can breath a sigh of relief. Our Commander-in-Chief’s official nail polish is in. An interesting ploy for young voters on the President’s part? Perhaps, but our nation’s leader isn’t the only one vying for a fresher generation. GM is turning to MTV for help. A school district in North Carolina is trying to help itself by acknowledging that a letter sent home with elementary students suggesting children not wear “African American attire” to celebrate Black History Month was probably not the best way to phrase it. A nude, pregnant Jessica Simpson on the cover of the latest Elle magazine was a bit too suggestive for an Arizona Safeway grocery store, where a piece of cardboard was placed in front of the publication reading, “PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE CARDBOARD.” Why would anyone want too? That said, please do have a great weekend.{/%BODYCOPY%} {%ID%}11188{/%ID%} {%DATAID%}3ff4b9bf-1efc-49b0-9849-eed1aab1b587{/%DATAID%} {%CanonicalUrl%}{/%CanonicalUrl%} {%PUBLISHDATE%}3/23/2012 1:59:41 PM{/%PUBLISHDATE%} {%LINK%}https://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/11188.aspx{/%LINK%} {%BYLINE%}
March 23, 2012