10 dumbest moments in business of 2005

Leslie from Burnsautoparts.com, tips us to the CNN Money: 10 dumbest moments in Marketing, advertising PR and business list.
Mr French made the list under the heading: Men, on the other hand, have a charming self-destructive quality.

Winner, Dumbest Moment, Public Relations
Men, on the other hand, have a charming self-destructive quality.

Speaking at an ad industry event in Toronto, WPP Group's worldwide creative director, Neil French, says there aren't more female creative directors "because they're crap" and they eventually "wimp out" and "go off and suckle something." French speaks from a stage decorated as a hunting lodge while being served drinks by a woman in a skimpy maid's outfit, of whom he asks, "Could you lean over a bit more?" Two weeks later WPP accepts French's resignation.

The marketing moment teaches us that the Spanish word cajeta is "little box", and it's so bad, you'd think it's a urban legend says Leslie and we can only agree while trying not to laugh too hard.

Winner, Dumbest Moment, Advertising
Bummer. But we're still going ahead with the "Schindler's Shopping List" campaign, right?

Fighting a proposal that would limit superstores in Flagstaff, Ariz., Wal-Mart signs off on an ad in the Arizona Daily Sun that asks, "Should we let government tell us what we can read? Of course not ... So why should we allow local government to limit where we shop?" The ad is illustrated with a vintage photo of Nazi supporters throwing books into a bonfire. Wal-Mart later apologizes, saying it had not appreciated the photo's "historical context."