12 Biggest Brand Blunders In History

by Chris Waugh

1. Nike Managed To Offend Muslims... Because Their Nike Air Logo Resembled The Arabic Name For "Allah"

Unfortunately Nike find themselves featuring on this list for a second time - and on this occasion it was for the controversial logo they used on their Nike Air trainers in 1997. The "flaming air" logo, although pretty cool looking, caused outrage in parts of the Muslim world due to the fact it closely resembled the Arabic name for "Allah". There were even calls from many leading Islamic figures for a boycott of Nike products.

Nike withdrew 38,000 pairs of the basketball shoes worldwide - which included the names "Air Bakin'", "Air Melt", "Air Grill" and "Air B-Que" - and also paid £31,000 ($50,000) to build a playground at an Islamic primary school in the US, as well as issuing an apology following the blunder. And all this just because the logo was supposed to look like fire but was poorly designed.

What other marketing blunders do big companies probably regret? Share any we missed down in the comments.

 
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NUFC editor for WhatCulture.com/NUFC. History graduate (University of Edinburgh) and NCTJ-trained journalist. I love sports, hopelessly following Newcastle United and Newcastle Falcons. My pastimes include watching and attending sports matches religiously, reading spy books and sampling ales.