Cautionary Tales: Reddit Users on the Worst Promotional Product They've Received from an Employer

Wouldn't it be great if we could all just read minds? Distributors and their customers wouldn't have to guess what products their end-users want. They'd simply know. They'd also probably know a little too much information about their end-users' stream of consciousness, but that's beside the point.

The point is that sometimes we're able to get a look into what recipients really want without the power of ESP. It's the power of the internet. Specifically, a recent Reddit thread on the r/AskReddit subreddit posed the question, "What's the worst company gift you've ever received?"

My mom's boss gave everyone a pen (a really crappy, normal pen) with their names printed on normal white printer paper that was scotch taped down the side of the pen. This sounds made up even to me as I type it, but it's still in our junk drawer.

Lesson: Use real decoration on a promotional product. That shouldn't have to be a lesson, but here we are. Don't just do something at the last minute. And, also, provide a good quality pen. There's a chance this user's mom would've used the pen even if the "decoration" was lacking.

Another user said that after a few branded coffee mugs planned for a holiday party were misspelled, the company fixed it and got 200 correct ones. However, the five mis-prints from the test print made their way into the giveaways.

They have been bought, sold, traded, etc. for like 3 years now. Every so often someone will show at a meeting with one and we all giggle about the story. There's 3 left in circulation, one was stolen along with a guy's backpack while at a conference, one was acquired and retired to our award shelf with a little plaque explaining the story.

Lesson: People will notice mistakes. Obviously this workplace took it in stride, and the misprints became worth more than the correct ones. But, that's not always the case. The other lesson is that sometimes even a mistake can lead to subsequent orders, as evidenced by a plaque explaining the misprinted mug.

All the staff at the hospital received a kitchen scrubby for Christmas. Not even themed. Just random browns, greens, pinks, and yellows...seems like the boss bought dollar store multi-packs and opened them to give everyone one piece.

Lesson: Giveaways need to feel thoughtful and purposeful. A home goods item like cleaning supplies or scrubbing tools can be an awesome promotion! Just go the extra mile with packaging or branding, or at least incorporate the theme of the event or brand aesthetic. Otherwise, yes, it will feel like you forgot a birthday and ran to the pharmacy in a last-minute attempt.

A deck of playing cards with coworkers faces on every card.

Lesson: Honestly, this one's kind of clever. Other Reddit users in the thread actually seemed to enjoy this one. I could see Dunder Mifflin doing this. (Toby would be the joker, obviously).

During the pandemic, my partner's company sent employees each an envelope through the mail with a sticker in it for some appreciation week I laughed so hard at it. It literally was a sticker that said 'happy appreciation week.'

Lesson: Don't skimp on design. It doesn't need to look like a Lisa Frank notebook (unless that's the vibe you're going for, honestly), but it should be more than just a Times New Roman declaration of the event.

My company is owned by a holdings company, so it's a bunch of different unrelated stuff. They keep giving us these vouchers to spend at their store. So I did a tour of the campus, and they brought us to the store. And it's literally elderly medical care stuff, like the things you would attach to your toilet and bathtubs to have bars to hold onto. They also have those super big chairs with all the gadgets and whistles. They're like 4 grand. So thanks for the 5 dollar voucher lol.

Lesson: Company stores can be a great incentive for employees. It gives them the possibility to choose exactly what they want, and that means the chances of them sporting the logo in their personal life become much higher. That said, you have to know your audience, and give them something that actually appeals to them. Items like apparel and drinkware are safer choices than very specific home equipment.

Hopefully, these cautionary tales help you in your business, or at least give you some confidence that even when you might have felt like you missed the mark, it could've been much worse. You could've been the person who gave someone a personalized appreciation book with the end-user's name spelled incorrectly on every page.