- 7/11/2025
When corporations put profits over people, the fallout can be catastrophic. Join us as we expose the most egregious cases where trusted brands stabbed their loyal customers in the back! From data breaches to dangerous products, these companies broke the ultimate cardinal rule of business: never betray those who trust you.
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00:00We're taking action to fully reassure airlines and their passengers.
00:04Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for 10 worst companies who stabbed their own customers in the back.
00:11The very last thing they care about is the privacy of our information.
00:16Number 10, Lenovo.
00:18You expect a little bloatware when you buy a new computer, not a backdoor for hackers.
00:22Between 2014 and 2015, that's exactly what happened with Lenovo.
00:26They shipped laptops with Superfish pre-installed.
00:28So just what is Superfish?
00:30Well, it works by analyzing what you search for on the internet, and it provides you with alternatives.
00:35It was adware that didn't just flood your screen with ads.
00:38It hijacked secure web traffic, making encrypted sites vulnerable to attacks.
00:42I use this device for my banking, my communication, for my work.
00:46And I find out that it's not as secure as I thought it was.
00:51It takes away our trust.
00:54The software used a fake security certificate, allowing anyone with the know-how to spy on your browsing, steal passwords, or impersonate websites.
01:01When experts raised the alarm, Lenovo initially shrugged it off.
01:04Combined pressure from Microsoft, federal agencies, and furious customers forced them to disable Superfish.
01:10By 2017, Lenovo was forced to pay millions in settlements.
01:13I don't know how anyone will trust a Lenovo computer after a dirty move like this.
01:17Number 9. Hoover
01:19In the UK, 1992 brought the deal of a lifetime, courtesy of Hoover.
01:23Hoover UK launched a promo offering round-trip flights to America with any purchase over 100 pounds.
01:28I think the catchphrase was, uh, two free flights. Unbelievable.
01:32Buy a vacuum, fly for free.
01:33What they didn't expect was that customers would actually take them up on it, in droves.
01:38Unsurprisingly, the cost of the flights massively outweighed the profit from vacuum sales.
01:42I can remember looking at Exchange and Mark at the time, and there were pages and pages of Hoovers for sale.
01:48Clearly, people were going out and buying a second and third Hoover just to participate in the promotion.
01:52And that's exactly what you don't want to happen.
01:54Hoover tried to dodge their promise with fine print and delays.
01:57The public wasn't having it.
01:58The scandal exploded, leading to lawsuits, a government probe, and the collapse of Hoover's brand reputation in the UK.
02:04By the time the dust settled, top execs were fired and the company was sold off.
02:08Instead of spending a little, sucking customers in, they spent millions blowing away their good necks.
02:15Number 8. ABP Food Group
02:17In 2013, ABP Food Group got caught red-hooved.
02:21The meat supplier was a key player in the infamous European horse meat scandal.
02:24I find it uncomfortable. Do I find it unacceptable to be eating horses? I would just rather not.
02:29Beef products sold in major supermarkets all over the continent weren't 100% beef.
02:34Markets and restaurants like Burger King found horse meat and pork in their beef products.
02:38The public outrage was instant and international.
02:41I think it's disgusting because if I'm going into a supermarket and I'm thinking that I'm buying beef
02:46and really I'm buying horse meat, it's not on really.
02:50While ABP blames subcontractors, investigations traced tainted products back to plants in Ireland and the UK.
02:56It wasn't just false advertising.
02:58It was a full-on betrayal of trust that left customers gagging.
03:01So how many of us have been eating horse-ridden ready meals since Saturday when the company knew what was going on, but they didn't tell us?
03:09Number 7. Herbalife
03:10From the outside, Herbalife looked like a booming health and wellness empire.
03:14Behind the scenes, it was being accused of running a pyramid scheme dressed up in protein shakes.
03:19Between 2012 and 2020, whistleblowers, investigators and billionaires helped shine a spotlight on Herbalife's business practices.
03:26This Herbalife distributor in New York City told us the story of a woman who overcame an inoperable brain tuber thanks to Herbalife.
03:33Whatever it is that the product did, it helped her a lot.
03:36They relied more on recruiting new distributors than selling actual products.
03:40So, Brian, first of all, it distresses me to hear these.
03:42This is going on right now.
03:44And this is something we clearly need to address.
03:46And despite said products being for weight loss, numerous lab tests in the 2000s found them high in lead, even reportedly causing acute hepatitis in some consumers.
03:55In 2016, the FTC slapped Herbalife with a $200 million fine and forced it to restructure its business model.
04:02There's a $200 million penalty that Herbalife's going to pay, essentially for misleading people.
04:07The damage wasn't just financial.
04:09Thousands of customers and recruits lost money while chasing false promises.
04:12Herbalife denied wrongdoing, but when your business model gets court-ordered therapy, it's safe to say something's off.
04:18The strategy they came up with is what they call the bottom of the pyramid strategy.
04:21And it was a strategy where they decided to target the poorest people in the world.
04:24I mean, it sounds incredible, but it's actually true.
04:27Number six, Volkswagen.
04:29Volkswagen's clean diesel cars had a dirty little secret.
04:32In 2015, U.S. regulators discovered that VW had been intentionally lying about their emissions tests for years.
04:38This is one of the affected vehicles that Volkswagen may now have to buy back, but the company's legal troubles are far from over.
04:45The company installed defeat devices, software that could detect emissions tests and artificially lower pollution levels to pass.
04:52On the road, these same cars were spewing out up to 40 times the legal limit of nitrogen oxides.
04:57But how the heck did the car know that it was being tested for emissions compliance?
05:00The EPA says it was a sophisticated system that checked things like steering wheel position, speed, how long the engine was on, and even the atmospheric pressure.
05:08The reaction was massive and worldwide.
05:10VW had built its brand on trust, quality, and green innovation, only to be exposed as one of the biggest corporate liars of the decade.
05:18How did nine guys sit around the table and go, hey, let's cheat, and no one else goes, that's a bad idea?
05:25The fallout included over $30 billion in fines, criminal charges, and a CEO resignation.
05:31It was easily one of the costliest corporate scandals in decades.
05:355. FTX
05:36In the world of crypto, few names rose faster, or fell harder, than FTX.
05:41There were clearly glaring red flags beyond any that I'd ever seen before.
05:46Touted as one of the most trusted exchanges, FTX turned out to be a house of cards.
05:50Founder Sam Bankman-Fried was secretly funneling billions in customer funds to its sister firm, Alameda Research.
05:57In court testimony, Wong said,
05:59I was directed to and agreed to make certain changes to the platform's code.
06:04I executed those changes, which I knew would give Alameda Research special privileges on the FTX platform.
06:10When the books were finally opened in 2022, the empire crumbled overnight.
06:14Customers lost an estimated $8 billion.
06:16Bankman-Fried was arrested and ultimately convicted of fraud.
06:20The company filed for bankruptcy, and the crypto market reeled.
06:23FTX's message of transparency and financial freedom was apparently for me, not for thee.
06:28You know, honestly, if I look back on myself, I think I got a little cocky.
06:35I made more than a little bit.
06:364. Wells Fargo
06:38For over a decade, Wells Fargo employees opened millions of unauthorized bank and credit accounts.
06:432 million fake accounts secretly created.
06:465,300 employees fired.
06:49Their customers had no clue that their names were being used by their bank.
06:52Fueled by impossible sales quotas and a toxic pressure cooker culture, workers at Wells Fargo committed fraud on a massive scale.
07:00Employees complained they were humiliated for failing to meet targets and were threatened with a sack.
07:04They forged signatures, created fake emails, and moved customer funds just to hit their numbers.
07:08The scope was staggering.
07:10More than 3.5 million fake accounts and at least 5,000 employees fired.
07:14The scandal was a public relations disaster.
07:17Wells Fargo had to shell out $3 billion in fines and settlements.
07:21Multiple executives were forced to resign in disgrace.
07:24Wells Fargo needs to start over, and that won't happen until the bank rids itself of people like you who led it into this crisis.
07:32Number three, Equifax.
07:35In the U.S., your credit score is enormously important and can decide your housing, job prospects, even phone plans.
07:40In 2017, one of the gatekeepers of those scores lost the plot completely.
07:44It seems that from mid-May to July of this year, there was a vulnerability on their website software,
07:51and that allowed hackers to get in during that period of time.
07:54Credit giant Equifax suffered a cyber attack that exposed the personal data of some 147 million Americans.
08:01Social security numbers, birthdates, and addresses were breached by hackers.
08:05Equifax knew about the vulnerability for months and did nothing about it.
08:09There was somebody out there with my information pretending to be me.
08:15After delaying disclosure and bungling the response, they paid a $700 million settlement.
08:20It was a relatively small price for a betrayal that affected nearly half the nation.
08:24Basically, this data breach really reminds people that you have to be vigilant.
08:28Number two, Facebook.
08:29In 2016, Facebook let your personal data walk right out the front door directly into a political psyop.
08:35It's incorrect to call Cambridge Analytica a purely sort of data science company or an algorithm company.
08:43It is a full-service propaganda machine.
08:47Through a shady quiz app, consulting firm Cambridge Analytica harvested info from up to 87 million Facebook users without their knowledge.
08:54That data was allegedly used to build psychological voter profiles to try to impact elections across the globe,
08:59including the 2016 U.S. presidential race and the U.K. Brexit votes.
09:03Users had no idea that Cambridge Analytica was accessing this data.
09:08Facebook's response was abysmal, full of denials, delays, and dodging accountability.
09:12CEO Mark Zuckerberg eventually faced Congress, but the damage was already done.
09:16The world came to learn what experts already knew.
09:19Facebook users are the product, not the consumer.
09:22My top priority has always been our social mission of connecting people, building community, and bringing the world closer together.
09:29Advertisers and developers will never take priority over that for as long as I'm running Facebook.
09:35Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos.
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09:52Number 1. Boeing.
09:53When a brand becomes a punchline for tragedy, something's gone terribly wrong.
09:57It was clear from the get-go that Boeing was in full crisis mode.
10:02In 2018 and 2019, two Boeing 737 MAX jets crashed within five months of each other.
10:07Nearly 350 people were killed.
10:09The cause?
10:10A flawed automated system called MCAS.
10:13It seems that MCAS was only installed to fast-track the 737 and outpace the competition.
10:18The problem was, at that point, the plane was going so fast that even after they took manual control, they could not physically get the plane to right itself.
10:31It was a move born completely out of capitalistic greed.
10:34They were betting against time that they would have a fix to MCAS before the next crash happened.
10:40And unfortunately, they lost that bet.
10:43By 2020, the entire fleet was grounded, and Boeing's reputation was in freefall.
10:49Investigations revealed a pattern of cut corners, regulatory manipulation, and shocking internal emails.
10:54The company paid $2.5 billion in penalties, but for many, Boeing's biggest failure wasn't technical, but moral.
11:00But if Boeing wants to get back to that place of grandeur, where it was for so long one of the most important American companies,
11:09it's going to take not four years, but it might take 14.
11:15Did we miss a scandal that still makes your blood boil?
11:17Let us know in the comments below.
11:19Boeing is accountable for what happened.
11:22An event like this simply must not happen.
11:30We'll be here Monday, right?
11:36We'll see you in the comments below.
11:37We'll see you in the comments below, and hope we'll see you then.
11:38Alice Television
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