From Himalayan fireworks to a thong trimmed with fake pubic hair, 2025 was a crash course in how quickly brand ambition can blow up in public. Across APAC and beyond, marketers ricocheted between cultural misfires, creative overreach and some truly spectacular own goals.
Here are ten standout moments from a year when the internet’s patience wore thin, and its pitchforks stayed sharp.
1. Arc'teryx sets fire to its brand
Brand implosions don’t come much more public than luminous fireworks in one of the world’s most photographed and ecologically sensitive locations. Canadian outdoor brand Arc’teryx, under China's Anta Group, must have thought it would generate acres of PR when it planned a collaboration with Chinese artist Cai Guo-qiang in September. Launching a pyrotechnic display including a 2,500 metre-long day-glo “dragon” on the foothills of the Tibetan Himalayas was supposed to highlight the Anta-owned brand’s synergy with nature. But as soon as the booming stopped, the backlash began.
Netizens called for a boycott, claiming that despite assurances that the display had been “respectful”, it was impossible to avoid damage in such a sacred area. The discrepancy has sparked debate on social media, with users questioning the brand's accountability and its approach to cross-cultural collaborations. Arc’teryx made the problem worse when it issued statements in English and Chinese that were worded differently and seemed to attribute blame in different places, too. The company eventually conceded the display was “out of line”, and Cai agreed to help restore the local environment. Four local officials were dismissed for authorising the event. Arc’teryx, it’s fair to assume, will be keeping it lower-key next time round.
2. Swatch doesn’t watch its step
Over the past decade, a long list of Western brands have offended Chinese cultural sensitivities through their marketing. In particular, the use of “slanted eye” imagery – widely regarded as evoking western stereotypes, or outright racism – has caused regular consternation: in 2021 alone, Dior faced scrutiny over an image in an exhibition it had sponsored, and both Mercedes-Benz and Gucci withdrew campaign materials for the same reason.
All of which makes it all the more inexplicable that the Swiss watch giant Swatch chose an image of a male Chinese model pulling a slanted eye gesture in a campaign for its Camo Flash model in August. On Chinese social media, netizens expressed not just offence at the image but astonishment that it had been approved and released in the first place. Swatch “sincerely apologised” and withdrew the materials; it later told a Swiss media outlet the work was “a faux pas by a young and motivated team which apparently didn’t realise the implications of the gestures involved”. When you’re already facing a sales slump in China, as the brand has been over the past year, it probably pays to learn from history.
3. Life isn’t sweet for Chocolate Finance
Being splashed all over the news media ought to be a dream come true for an ambitious fintech start-up, a matter of months old. But Chocolate Finance was soon melting in the glare of publicity after it was forced to freeze instant withdrawals and cap debit card spending in March, as a loyalty programme backfired. The Singaporean firm, launched on a mission to shake up consumer finance, had partnered with a reward platform to offer two air miles for every dollar spent on its debit card. But that included AXS payment kiosks, and word soon spread about the rewards on offer for settling your gas bill or parking fine.
The resulting spending splurge by customers “surged far beyond expectations, making the programme unsustainable”. Consumers took to social media to complain and threaten to close their accounts, as experts said the firm had been overexuberant in chasing loyalty without considering the financial risks. Even so, Chocolate ended up the winner when the dust had settled. It went on to land $15 million in funding to expand into Hong Kong, and founder Walter de Oude said near-calamity had a definite upside: “It was probably the biggest PR campaign in history. Everyone in Singapore knew about us after that. In the end, it gave us reach that money couldn’t buy.”
4. Uniqlo’s food for thought
If there’s one golden rule in Singapore, it’s don’t mess with the chilli crab. Unfortunately, Uniqlo didn’t get the memo. In May, the Japanese retail giant’s customised t-shirt collection, UTme! Local Delights, hit stores offering a selection of quirky designs celebrating chicken rice, kaya toast and other delicacies ahead of the city’s 60th anniversary festivities. Soon, social media posts were calling the designs “eerily similar” to work by local fashion brand Musoka Club, which had released its own homage to the exact same dishes almost two years earlier.
Musoka Club stopped short of accusing Uniqlo of plagiarism but noted “the similarities were so big that people started assuming it was a collaboration,” while also fretting the $29 price tag would devalue its designs. Days later, netizens were also pointing the finger at a Uniqlo keychain featuring local rice favourite cai fan, which seemed to resemble a sticker set from Singapore brand PointyRice. “We respect the dialogue it has sparked and remain committed to fostering open, thoughtful engagement within our creative community,” was the retailer’s po-faced response to the furore, but the lesson was clear: there’s a fine line between inspiration and imitation and brands need to be sure which side of it they’re on.
5. New Zealand boldly goes
The no-such-thing-as-bad-publicity maxim is one that communications professionals staring at a disastrous campaign launch will be only too familiar with. The Kiwi tourist board certainly believes it’s true. In February, Tourism New Zealand launched an ambitious multimedia campaign to persuade Australians to holiday at their near(ish) neighbours. But the tagline, 'Everyone Must Go', got attention for all the wrong reasons, with opposition politicians claiming it made the country “sound like we're in a clearance bin at a sale” and others pointing out that with emigration at record high levels, the message had already been received.
“The fact that we’re talking about it is a good thing, it’s a great thing,” insisted Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, to general ridicule from his normally mild-mannered compatriots. But by the start of winter, it looked like he might have had the last laugh. Australian tourism, previously in the doldrums, was "resurgent" according to Tourism New Zealand, with 8,000 additional travellers spending NZ$22m in the country. Whether that was because of the divisive tagline or despite it is a debate that’s never likely to be settled.
6 No cheer for Chery
While Arc’teryx was pilloried for damaging a popular tourist attraction in China, car brand Chery emerged from its own brush with notoriety, in November, relatively unscathed. Partly that’s because it’s a domestic champion – the country’s fourth most popular auto maker – but it also owned its fail straight away. Even so, Chery can’t have enjoyed the avalanche of videos that followed its attempt to drive an electric SUV up the 300-metre-long ‘Stairway to Heaven’, 999 steps that take tourists into a spectacular cave 1,000-odd metres into the mountains of Hunan province.
The stairway is regarded as one of the country’s most awe-inspiring sights, so when the car’s safety harness failed and it crashed into and destroyed an ornate stone pillar partway up the climb, the resulting footage was splashed all over local media. Even worse, Chery had been trying to recreate a (successful) ascent by Land Rover seven years earlier. “We deeply reflect on the public concerns raised by our decision to conduct the test in a public scenic area,” said the brand, which promised to repair all damage.
7 Skims’ hair-raising new line
Was it an expensive practical joke, or a genius move from the undisputed queen of outrage marketing? Either way, in October, Kim Kardashian broke the internet (not for the first time) as her Skims brand launched the Micro String Thong, an underwear range which came with the alarming addition of fake pubic hair. “With this iconic new panty, your carpet can be whatever colour you want it to be,” ran the copy accompanying what the brand, co-founded by the 45-year-old reality star and entrepreneur in 2019, dubbed “the ultimate bush”.
On social media, the creation was called “disgusting” and “the worst thing I’ve ever seen”, but the fact that it “sold out” immediately suggested the thong was more a publicity driver for a business that now books $1 billion in annual revenue than a serious innovation. For many, however, the stunt backfired badly, drawing attention to Kardashian’s ongoing manipulation of beauty norms in the name of the brand, particularly given her past aversion to body hair and the launch earlier this year of a bra with fake nipples. As one journalist put it: “Kardashian has found a way to commercialise the body parts that most often fall victim to regulation, sexualisation and scrutiny in a patriarchal society, while removing them from their previous context completely.”
8 Aussie sunscreens’ burning platform
Australians understandably take protecting themselves from the sun incredibly seriously. With the highest incidence of skin cancer in the world and high UV rates all year round, sunscreen is a national obsession: the country accounts for about 10% of all global sales of the product. But 2025 has been a true annus horribilis: a report from a consumer watchdog in June suggested 16 out of 20 of the most popular sunscreens it tested offered significantly less SPF protection than their marketing claims. In many cases, the true SPF was less than half the headline rate, and one of the best sellers, which claimed to have an SPF above 50, was actually coming in at 4, according to tests.
The country’s medical watchdog began a probe, while almost all the affected products were either withdrawn or had sales suspended over the coming months. Concerns are being raised about sunscreen in other markets, leading to an industry-wide crisis. How did such a massive failing in consumer trust, which has led to a backlash against manufacturers, happen in the first place? It seems many of the products were tested by a single US lab that has been drawing attention from investigators. Some of the largest cosmetics firms in the world have been caught up in the scandal, and with summer in full swing, Aussies still aren’t sure which products they can trust.
9. America cracks up over Cracker Barrel
If you’d never heard of Cracker Barrel before August, you definitely have now. The restaurant and store chain, which trades on homespun rural charm and features hashbrown casserole and fried apples among the delights on its menu, has more than 600 locations across the US, particularly around Texas and Florida. Sprucing up its brand ought to have been uncontroversial – but after the business removed an overall-clad man known as 'Uncle Hershel' leaning on a barrel from its logo, and opted for a simpler lozenge-shaped design that would work better on digital channels, all hell broke loose.
Politicians called it a “woke rebrand”, US President Donald Trump told the firm to “go back to the old logo”, and $94 million was shed from Cracker Barrel’s share price in a single day. In less than a week, a return to the old brand had been announced, though the firm saw footfall drop significantly, and the share price remains 50% down on the pre-rebrand price. CEO Julia Masino has since promised to “lean into Uncle Hershel” and joked “, I feel like I've been fired by America”, though the only person actually fired was a board member with a marketing background. The strangest aspect of it all, apart from the outsize reaction, was that Cracker Barrel’s rebrand wasn’t much to do with wokeness – in the views of most experts, it was just poorly executed and communicated. Still, at least brand marketing courses will have a new disaster case study to replace Coca-Cola and Gap.
10. Astronomer borrows some star power
Hands down the most-discussed cultural happening of 2025, the Coldplay kisscam debacle was more than just cringeworthy: it turned into a lesson in crisis marketing. After the CEO and HR leader of Astronomer, a unicorn tech firm specialising in data workflow management, were caught hugging on the big screen at a concert just outside Boston in July, the world lost its collective mind. Memes multiplied by the minute and brands soon jumped on board: IKEA Singapore recreated the moment with “HR approved” plush toys, a private jet firm offered the “quickest escape from a Coldplay concert” and Duolingo inevitably bust out its owl. Both executives resigned in a matter of days, though they denied having an affair, and co-founder Pete DeJoy admitted the focus on the firm was “unusual and surreal”.
In retrospect, however, the immediate fallout wasn’t the most interesting aspect of it all. By hiring Gwyneth Paltrow, ex-wife of Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, to act as a spokesperson on a response video, Astronomer took back control of the narrative. Promising to answer the most common questions about the firm, Paltrow said she was “ thrilled so many people have a newfound interest in data workflow automation”. Her deadpan delivery was viewed more than 20 million times. If your CEO’s going to go viral for all the wrong reasons, you can at least have some fun with it.
