Business 2.0 has a list of last year’s 101 Dumbest Moments in Business. The list looks “at the year in bungled layoffs, customer-service snafus, executive follies, and other madness.” Some highlights from the list:
In June, research firm VisitorVille Intelligence reveals that two out of every three Microsoft employees it tracked use Google, not MSN, when conducting searches on the Internet.
In August, McDonald’s runs a promotional contest in Japan in which it gives away 10,000 Mickey D’s-branded MP3 players.
The gadgets come preloaded with 10 songs – and, in some cases, a version of the QQPass family of Trojan horse viruses, which, when uploaded to a PC, seeks to capture passwords, user names, and other data and then forward them to hackers.
On the morning of April 3, Amazon.com sends an e-mail headed “UCLA Wins!” to virtually everyone to whom it has ever sold a sports-related item, attempting to hawk a cap celebrating the Bruins’ stirring victory in college basketball’s championship game.
Just one problem:
The game isn’t scheduled to be played until later that night. When it is, UCLA is trounced by Florida, 73-57.