McDonald's - Arch Deluxe
1996-1997
Fast food giant McDonald’s decided to expand its menu with a hamburger for “adult taste”. After investing $300 million in market research and development, they finally came up with the Arch Deluxe. The lavish but misguided advertising campaign showed children frowning and disgusted by the hamburger for adults. McDonald’s, better known for low prices than its sophisticated food, hadn’t considered why anyone would want to pay more for the deluxe burger that for some strange reason appalled kids. The Arch Deluxe remains one of the most expensive failures in the fast food industry.
Additional info:
Medium - Why didn’t the most expensive campaign save their Arch Deluxe?
Ranker.com - McDonald's Most Ambitious Failure
The advertising campaign was massive - and many of these are on Youtube: