At the end of every year, the Spaeth team evaluates the winning BIMBO comments from each month and selects the best (worst) comment of the year (check out the 2019 BIMBO of the Year). This year, we solicited YOUR opinion on the year’s top blunder. The votes are in, and we are excited to reveal the winning BIMBO comments of 2020 below. You may access the complete list of 2020 nominees here. Thank you to all who voted, and here’s to a prosperous and BIMBO-free 2021.
2020 BIMBO OF THE YEAR
“We’re not some demonic cult like we’re portrayed to be,” said Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala., when commenting on his recent 20-point loss to Republican Tommy Tuberville, as seen in the December 2020 BIMBO Memo.
THE RUNNERS-UP
“Too black,” was how Stan Richards, legendary ad man behind the Richards Group, reacted to a proposed ad for long-time client Motel 6 on an internal Zoom call, adding it wouldn’t appeal to the lodging company’s “white supremacist constituents,” as seen in the November 2020 BIMBO Memo.
“I can’t guarantee you that this policy has never been violated,” said Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos at a congressional hearing during which the leaders of Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Google faced criticism from lawmakers, as seen in the September 2020 BIMBO Memo.
The BIMBO Memo is a reminder not to repeat and deny a negative word because of how the listener hears words. When you repeat and deny a negative word, the listener is likely to overlook the denial and hear the opposite of what the speaker is trying to say. It’s named for the young woman who was caught with a high profile, but alas married man. She held a press conference and announced, “I am not a BIMBO,” thus causing everyone to think she was.
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