Business 2.0 Magazine Unveils Newest List of the 101 Dumbest Moments in Business.Business Editors SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 17, 2003 Collection of Corporate Gaffes Goes Beyond Martha Stewart <noinclude></noinclude> Martha Stewart (born Martha Helen Kostyra on August 3, 1941) is an American business magnate, author, editor and homemaking advocate. She is also a former stockbroker and fashion model. , SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt and Rosie O'Donnell to Uncover the Year's Truly Wacky Business Blunders, Ranging From Student Slave Labor to Yodeling yo·del v. yo·deled or yo·delled, yo·del·ing or yo·del·ling, yo·dels v.intr. To sing so that the voice fluctuates rapidly between the normal chest voice and a falsetto. v.tr. for Dollars Spotlighting humorous corporate follies and executive missteps from the past year, the April 2003 issue of Business 2.0 (www.business2.com) features the magazine's newest list of the "101 Dumbest Moments in Business." Moving beyond business headlines, such as Martha Stewart's troubles, SEC chairman Harvey Pitt's resignation and Rosie O'Donnell's magazine woes, the special report also highlights lesser-known but equally remarkable business flubs from a variety of sources. Winners include media organizations, technology firms, airlines, retail businesses, consumer-products manufacturers, online businesses, fast-food chains and many others. The following are 10 of the top corporate blunders from Business 2.0's third annual list of the "101 Dumbest Moments in Business": 1. Midas launches an ad campaign featuring an elderly woman ripping open her blouse, asking what the company's lifetime "tune-up" guarantee can do for her body. 2. Yahoo ends up paying an undisclosed sum to Wylie Gustafson, the yodeler featured in its ads, after he sues the company for $5 million, claiming he was paid only for limited use. 3. Hop-On sends samples of its new, innovative disposable cell phone to reporters, who quickly discover that the phone's "revolutionary secret" is actually run-of-the-mill Nokia parts. 4. Clonaid tries to sell a mysterious $9,220 contraption called the RMX RMX Remix (music) RMX RockMan X (video game) RMX RetailersMarketXchange RMX Reverse Mail eXchange RMX Remote Mail Exchange RMX Realtime Multitasking Executive RMX Reverse Mx RMX Real Music Jukebox 2010, heightening the product's ambiguity by donating one to a British science museum with strict orders not to open it to find out what is inside. 5. Microsoft's senior vice president for Windows, Brian Valentine, declares at a conference that all operating systems suck. 6. In an effort to stanch stanch 1 also staunch tr.v. stanched also staunched, stanch·ing also staunch·ing, stanch·es also staunch·es 1. To stop or check the flow of (blood or tears, for example). 2. his company's bleeding, Edison School CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. Chris Whittle suggests putting Edison students to work for an hour a day--for free. 7. Barclay Knapp, CEO of telecommunications firm NTL NTL Nevertheless NTL National Transportation Library NTL Norsk Tjenestemannslag NTL National Training Laboratories NTL Never Too Late NTL Nothing to Lose NTL National Training Laboratory NTL None the Less NTL Number Theory Library , proclaims that he built a good company--just one with a bad balance sheet--shortly before filing for bankruptcy with debts totaling nearly $23.4 billion. 8. Employees at a floundering car plant in Romania propose to erase the company's $20 million debt by selling their sperm. 9. The National Cattlemen's Beef Association National Cattlemen's Beef Association or NCBA, an advocacy group for beef producers in the United States, reports that it works "to increase profit opportunities for cattle and beef producers by enhancing the business climate and building consumer demand. launches a marketing website designed to "steer" girls away from vegetarianism vegetarianism, theory and practice of eating only fruits and vegetables, thus excluding animal flesh, fish, or fowl and often butter, eggs, and milk. In a strict vegetarian, or vegan, diet (i.e. . 10. German real estate tycoon Rolf Eden offers to pay 125,000 euros to any woman who can kill him through sexual intercourse sexual intercourse or coitus or copulation Act in which the male reproductive organ enters the female reproductive tract (see reproductive system). . "In keeping with Business 2.0's commitment to deliver an unflinching take on the world of business, we present this newest list of the 101 dumbest moments in business. This past year was chock-full of unusually wacky, not to mention hilarious, goofs and gaffes," said Josh Quittner, editor of Business 2.0. Visit the online version of the article at www.business2.com/dumbest to see the complete list of 101 business bungles. The April 2003 issue of Business 2.0 will be available on newsstands March 24, 2003. Editor commentary about the list is available upon request. ABOUT BUSINESS 2.0 Business 2.0, a monthly magazine about what works in business today, is published out of The FORTUNE Group at Time Inc., an AOL (A division of Time Warner, Inc., New York, NY, www.aol.com) The world's largest online information service with access to the Internet, e-mail, chat rooms and a variety of databases and services. Time Warner company. For more information, visit www.business2.com. |
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