Badvertising (bad + advertising)
“Badvertising” (bad + advertising) is a word that has been cited in print since at least 1911. The magazine Adweek began annual “badvertising awards” in 1982. The “BADvertising Institute” (a spoof of The Tobacco Institute) also began in the 1980s.
“Badvertising” usually means “bad advertising,” although it can also mean “false advertising.”
Google Books
August 1911, American Paint and Oil Dealer, pg. 24:
POOR ADVERTISING.
(...)
To neglect to do so is certainly the worst form of badvertising.
The Deseret News (Salt Lake City, UT)
IN ‘88 LIST
Published: Thursday, Jan. 12 1989 12:00 a.m. MST
Chevrolet should dump its “Heartbeat of America” campaign in favor of a new ticker, Adweek says.
The advertising trade magazine placed the campaign at the top of its “Worst in the Midwest” in this week’s issue. It was one of 19 recipients in the magazine’s Seventh Annual Badvertising Awards of 1988.
HighBeam Business
Badvertising awards. (ADWEEK’s awards for 1990’s worst advertising campaigns)
Article from: ADWEEK Eastern Edition | January 7, 1991
If you had a nickel for each environmentally virtuous ad that ran in 1990, you could buy your own rain forest. Does that mean a ‘90s style of Badvertising has emerged: Look at this collection of the year’s worst ads and you’ll see the early returns are mixed. AW exemplified by Toyota’s “New Values, New Car” spot, the self-righteousness of the ‘90s could make us all nostalgic fir the self-indulgence of the `80s. Rather than having it all, the new genre says you can have it nearly all while feeling incredibly smug about the little you’ve given up. Seductive as that notion is, though, it has yet to supplant the old materialist gloating-a remarkably resilient strain of Badvertising.
Urban Dictionary
badvertising
Created by Jacob and Adam, badvertise is the act of bad advertising or false advertising. It also means the bad things aren’t being advertised.
Commercial: Matt is straight.
Jacob: That’s badvertising.
by AtrayZ November 26, 2005
Twitter
Adam Nelson
@clunkclunk
Blogged: Welcome to the 21st century, Intel:
Badvertising: Intel Apologizes For “Insens.. http://tinyurl.com/2y6kct
12:32 AM - 3 Aug 2007
elephant
Badvertising.
Apr 24, 2010
Bad ads
Complex—Art + Design
The Art of the Portmanteau: 50 Modern Word Mashups in Pop Culture
BY PATRICK ALBERTSON | MAY 31, 2011 | 11:27 AM
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Badvertising
What Makes Up the Name: bad + advertising
There can be good advertorial, but then there can also be plain old badvertising. It’s usually late at night and for some fitness machine or cleaning product, but sometimes it’s simpler than that…
Origin: Pretty much since the advent of modern advertising we imagine. Those guys are creative with word play anyway.
YouTube
What Not To Do On YouTube: Badvertising
EatMyDiction1
Uploaded on Sep 8, 2011
Chilled Chaos’ Channel: http://www.youtube.com/CriousGamers
Ragan’s PR Daily
10 words that only a marketer could have made up
By Lianne Domenic | Posted: March 6, 2014
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8. “Badvertising” (bad + advertising)
This word may be new but the idea behind it sure isn’t. See a particularly obnoxious, flashy, or offensive ad? It must be a product of badvertising. Some ads are insensitive, some are annoying, and many are just plain bad.
They may succeed in getting your attention, but it’s for all the wrong reasons. Brands guilty of badvertising may have made a false claim or a questionable joke, or perhaps they just lack taste.