"Democracy is fine. You tried to cheap out on marketing and you got what you paid for."

Reminds me of the Priiiiillll debacle: https://heideblog.com/2011/05/12/eine-abstimmung-fur-raserei... (the title is in German and is unconnected)

TL; DR: washing-up-detergent maker Pril does online competition and promised to put the winning design on shelves, the design that got most votes: https://heideblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/screen-shot...

Somewhere online there's a pic of these things on the shelves/they did make them as collectibles.

I’d buy it. I love stuff like that.

Boaty McBoatface is the most famous boat behind the Titanic, so it definitely worked.

If I saw that Peil design on store shelves I’d likely buy it, so it likely worked quite well as a limited edition. Really click the line and ask yourself if you’d do the same. https://heideblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/screen-shot...

The inherent issue with these campaigns is the select for initial response not how long you’re going to like some design.

That is awesome.

If marketers found that any vote spontaneously creates the invested interest a democratic process needs then we all would have starved during the subsequent storm of pointless elections.