When a fitness ad is placed right next to an escalator, or a fast-food billboard about crispy chicken appears in front of a cemetery, the sheer irony can make even the most stoic among us crack a smile.
That’s the magic of bad — or brilliant — ad placement. It really just depends on which lens you’re looking through.
To be honest, we all need a good laugh these days, and watching multi-million dollar companies accidentally turn their expensive marketing campaigns into jokes is quite entertaining. That’s why here at Bored Panda, we gathered the absolute best ad placement fails from different corners of the internet and condensed them into one hilarious list.
Some of these advertisements may not be intentional disasters, but they definitely managed to grab a lot of eyeballs.
#1 There Is A Placeholder Ad On My Country, Then This Happened!
Image source: PaP3s
#2 Product Placement. So Important
Image source: junana
#3 Hm
If you’re wondering why these awkward ad placements are so funny, science actually has a cool explanation for it.
In behavioral psychology, this comes down to something called the Benign Violation Theory, researched by experts A. Peter McGraw and Caleb Warren.
Their study shows that we laugh when something feels wrong, even though it is completely harmless.
Normally, seeing a fast-food deal right next to a heart health warning feels like a huge mistake. But because no one is actually in danger, your mind relaxes. The sudden shock can then turn into a chuckle.
Dr. Peter McGraw co-authored a popular science book titled The Humor Code: A Global Search for What Makes Things Funny in which he explains how these exact moments of harmless chaos trigger our laughter.
#4 McDonald’s Agree To Take Down ‘Mccrispy’ Advertising Billboard That Was Erected Next To Sign For Local Crematorium
Image source: cheechssoup
#5 Heart Failure X Mcdonalds
Image source: BigNuclearButton
#6 Perfect Ad Placement
Image source: [deleted]
Another reason these images are funny is because of how our brains handle visual surprises.
Experts believe that laughter is a cognitive response to the perception of incongruity. It means when reality breaks our expectations, our brain turns that surprise into a laugh.
Our minds love patterns, so we expect a gym ad near a running track, not an escalator. When two opposite ideas clash in public, your brain snaps out of autopilot to figure out what happened. Once your mind realizes it’s just a silly accident, it rewards you with a moment of pure joy.
Carlo Valerio Bellieni, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Siena, explains it in different terms.
“We can strip back laughter to a three-step process. First, it needs a situation that seems odd and induces a sense of incongruity (bewilderment or panic). Second, the worry or stress the incongruous situation has provoked must be worked out and overcome (resolution). Third, the actual release of laughter acts as an all-clear siren to alert bystanders (relief) that they are safe.”
#7 Nice Ad Placement, Samsung
Image source: UnderclassHeroX
#8 Ad Placement Win
Image source: whathaveyoudone22
#9 Oh Is He Now?
Image source: nonnordajackrabbit
More often than not, brands try to incorporate humor intentionally.
For decades, advertising research has shown that making people laugh is one of the quickest ways to build a strong brand. A report by Oracle found that around 90% of consumers are much more likely to remember ads that use humor. About 72% said they would pick a funny company over the competition every single time.
Studies have found that when an ad makes you laugh, your brain drops its natural defenses against a sales pitch. The positive feeling from the joke instantly attaches itself to the brand, making you trust them more without even realizing it.
#10 Best Ad Placement Ever
Image source: KuqX
#11 No Standing
Image source: Drprim83
#12 Nice Legs, Coach
Image source: Pinterest
Despite these clear perks, funny ads actually hit an all-time low a few years back.
Industry data from the market research firm Kantar revealed that humor in marketing has declined significantly over the past two decades. Fewer than 10% of campaigns used comedy around 2022, as companies leaned heavily into serious, cause-driven messaging.
#13 Poor Ad Placement
Image source: WorkFriendlyAcct
#14 Quality Ad Placement
Image source: [deleted]
#15 Poor Choice Of Ad Placement
Image source: Sloan1505
But the industry is currently seeing a gradual comedy comeback. The shift became official when the prestigious Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity launched a brand-new “humor” award category in 2023, attracting nearly 800 entries from top global companies in its very first run.
The festival led to a sudden rise, and data shows that 75% of US or UK winners used humor in their campaigns in 2024, up from 52% in 2023.
“When Cannes adds a humor category, that merely adds credence to what creatives have suspected for years now — humor is one of the most effective ways to make a complicated point in a sharp, succinct way,” says Hayden Scott of Virtue Asia.
#16 No Way
Image source: /ashutoshpac95
#17 Shocked By This Bus Design
Image source: meltshake
#18 So Tender
Image source: MaFuMo
Sometimes, brands also choose to roll with the punch and leave their funny blunders out in the wild.
For example, a 2007 anti-smoking campaign in New Zealand accidentally encouraged kids to quit school instead. The mishap occurred because the school bus signs are fold-down flaps on regular buses, which accidentally obscured part of the ad’s text.
Rather than panicking, the Health Sponsorship Council chose to let it run.
“It only runs another couple of weeks and we see the sense of humor in it. It wasn’t what we intended it to be, but you’ve got to be able to laugh. It’s funny, not derogatory, we thought, so we decided to leave it,” the council’s spokesman, Iain Potter, had said at the time.
#19 Accidentally Snowman
Image source: huopak
#20 Someone Didn’t Quite Think That One All The Way Through
Image source: gerald1
#21 Great Ad Placement
Image source: nthensome
These marketing misfires serve as a gentle reminder that even in a world driven by algorithms and multi-million-dollar strategy budgets, you can’t control everything.
And in an era where almost everything is designed to sell us something or direct our attention, it’s quite refreshing to see unscripted moments of complete absurdity from time to time.
#22 Ad Placement Goals
Image source: alrightfornow
#23 Welp
Image source: josephga
#24 Pretty Bad Placement
Image source: dhthms
#25 There’s A Job Opening At LEGO
Image source: briman2021
#26 What Are They Selling Again?
Image source: anon
#27 The Coincidence Looks Realistic
Image source: puffy-tradition
#28 The Secret Ingredient
Image source: onthefloip
#29 You Should’ve Bought Their Storage Units
Image source: misterpeanutbutta
#30 Owls
Image source: bananatron
#31 Hm
#32 Just Riding The Bus
Image source: prosto_mokasin
#33 This Ad At A Bus Stop
Image source: [deleted]
#34 Umm What
Image source: salti3
#35 The Poster On The Back Of This Bus
Image source: [deleted]
#36 Ad Placement… It’s Important
Image source: UberChrisOfUltraWah
#37 Best Ad Placement Of All Time
Image source: holycowdude
#38 Local Newspaper Editor Can’t Read A Room
Image source: dangraphs
#39 Thank God He Missed The Train
Image source: [deleted]
#40 Pour With Confidence
Image source: Kam9414
#41 I Guess There’s Happiness Here In Some Way
Image source: anon
#42 You Can See The Fire From There
Image source: anon
#43 Found It!
Image source: Daily_Dogging
#44 Mcdonalds Ad Right Next To The New Nhs Healthy Eating Ad. Great Job, Lads
Image source: sixtittypertitty2
#45 Interested In Coronavirus? Book Our Cruise!
Image source: katbess
#46 The Life Of A Youtuber
Image source: assignpseudonym
#47 Inspector Gadget
Image source: VinceFromVinceWow
#48 Hunger?
Image source: r_il
#49 I’m Trying To Get Home
Image source: dcoughl02
#50 Life Has A Certain Poetry To It
Image source: GraniteCapybara
#51 Welcome To El Paso, TX
Image source: AwarenessRough5444
#52 This Bus Keyhole
Image source: good_pencil
#53 The Tail Light Placement On These Bus Ads Is Either Crappy Or Genius
Image source: [deleted]
#54 Not Cool Reddit
Image source: SiEdMeow
#55 Avocado Phobia
Image source: anon
#56 Mcdoh!
Image source: treyveee
#57 Thanks, Domino’s
Image source: __Coxy__
#58 That Is Quite Unfortunate
Image source: ExpertBadger989
#59 Hm
#60 Oh My God She Has AirPods In She Can’t Hear Us!!
Image source: megpIant
#61 Aliens
Image source: I_Doesnt_Make_Sense
#62 To Advertise With A Billboard
Image source: QueenPickleTheFirst
#63 Cards Against Humanity Irl
Image source: singleandreadytodie
#64 So, That’s How You Do It Beastie Boy!!!
Image source: mightbeontosomething
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