The Pratfall Effect: What happens when brands make big, public mistakes (2025)

When Barrack Obama was running for President, a journalist asked a bit of a “gotcha” question.

He asked candidate Obama whether he’d ever smoked m*rijuana.

And instead of trying to hide a mistake that might’ve cost him the race, he admitted to it.

Obama said, “When I was a kid, I inhaled. That was the point.”

Because Obama was already seen as a likeable, smart and competent guy something called the Pratfall Effect kicked in, and made him even more likeable, because now he didn’t seem “too perfect.”

And it turns out that’s what’s true for presidential candidates can also be true for regular people, celebrities, and consumer brands, too...

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