15 Insanely Terrible Advertising Campaigns You Won't Believe Are Real

The 1994 RPG game Earthbound has developed a cult following over the years, but at the time it was a flop in the United States. That was due to a number of factors, a large one being the nonsensical marketing campaign. Nintendo spent about $2 million on advertising for Earthbound, and that money primarily went to full pages in magazines that assaulted readers with putrid smells.

In a now infamous Nintendo Power spread, the biggest words on the page are "Because this game stinks," and smack dab in the middle is a giant scratch and sniff that does indeed stink. If you were unfortunate enough to try it out, your magazine would be filled with the charming aroma of a skunk that pooped itself and was set on fire.

Another ad showed a giant can of "stink away" with text that reads "You Wanna Play Earthbound, You're Gonna Need This." Some other taglines included, "It's like living inside your gym shorts," "We're warning you: this game stinks," "Comes with more rude smells than a pull my finger joke," and "There's a lot more stench where this came from."

Who is this supposed to appeal to? Does the thought of disgusting, sweaty gym shorts entice the average gamer? Associating the game with fantastically unpleasant scents definitely stood out, but not exactly in a good way.