Olympics Marketing Mistakes

The Olympics are all about competition, brotherhood and international goodwill. Or they are supposed to be, at least. As the Games became more and more popular, the race for the marketing dollar became every bit as heated — and every bit as prone to that embarrassing misstep that everyone ends up remembering.

Just about every major global marketer has some kind of presence at the Olympics. Some manage to recoup their investment by creating strong buzz that eventually boosts sales. Others…aren’t quite so lucky.

In anticipation of the Beijing Olympics, MSNBC tried to identify some of the biggest marketing screw-ups of all-time. In some cases, bad luck ruined a good thing. In others, it was simply a bad idea in the first place.

They came up with a not-so-elite eight. Here are the bottom four:

8. What is that thing? (Atlanta, 1996): The Atlanta Games were plagued with problems, not the least of which was the official mascot, whose name (Izzy) was short for “Whatizit.”

7. The fans stay home. (Athens, 2004): So much for the triumphant return of the Games to their birthplace. Entire sections of empty seats proved embarrassing for the hosts.

6. The dream is over. (Athens, 2004): NBA players dominated the Games since the first Dream Team took to the court in 1992. That ended with a bronze medal in Greece.

5. Bode Miller’s meltdown. (Torino, 2006): After being cast as the American face of the Games, the world’s most celebrated skier didn’t win a medal…and didn’t seem to care.

What? No Dan vs. Dave? To find out more about these blunders, and to see the rest of the list, visit MSNBC.com.