An air conditioning company in the Netherlands has won an award for its slogan. Whether that is something to celebrate is up to you, as Aircare Airconditioning was awarded the title of Worst Slogan of 2024.

Worst Dutch Slogan of 2024 goes to airconditioning company

Once again, the worst brand slogan of the year in the Netherlands has been chosen. For the thirteenth time, a shortlist of slogans was compiled and made available to the public between December 6 and 11, so people could vote for the ultimate “winner”.

With 26 percent of votes, Aircare Airconditioning in Warmond was crowned the winner with the slogan “Vandaag weer een tevreden klant koud gemaakt” or “Another satisfied customer made cold” in English – “koud gemaakt” is a Dutch phrase used to say someone was killed. The company will receive a commemorative tile in Delft blue style from the platform SlechteSlogans.nl.

Creative slogans earn Dutch companies good publicity

Many companies that are nominated in the ranking often receive an influx of recognition during and following the voting period. “We often hear the positive attention for our nominees,” said one of the people behind the idea of the slogan ranking, Tefke van Dijk. “Fashion store Jan de Cock won the election more than ten years ago with “It’s De Cock that makes the man” and still gets customers who come to his store, especially for the slogan.”

Roy van Velzen of Aircare Airconditioning says his company went viral for the slogan before the competition when they put it on their van and someone posted a photo of it on the internet. “In no time we had 160.000 views and a lot of nice reactions from people.” Hearing about being in the Worst Slogan ranking, Van Velzen had a good laugh. “When my boys drive away from a customer, I have been saying for years that they “een klant koud hebben gemaakt” (made a customer cold). At some point, we put the slogan on the bus and then we added “tevreden” (satisfied) to it.”

Second place went to Brummans & Fa Tandartsen, a dentist in Heerhugowaard, for their slogan “Bedankt dat je voor ons hebt gekiest” (“Thank you for choosing us”). The use of “gekiest” is a play on the word “kies” which is the Dutch word for molar. Rounding out the top three is “Don’t vlaai away” from tourist site Visit Zuid-Limburg. A vlaai is a Dutch pastry / cobbler associated with Limburg and is a play on the English word “fly”.

10 worst slogans in the Netherlands of 2024

In all, here are the worst slogans for 2024 as voted by the Dutch public:

1. Vandaag weer een tevreden klant koud gemaakt – Aircare Airconditioning
2. Bedankt dat je voor ons hebt gekiest – Brummans & Fa Tandartsen
3. Don’t vlaai away – Visit Zuid-Limburg
4. Asbest as it can get – asbest is the Dutch word for asbestos and the company removes asbestos – Asbestcare asbestverwijdering
5. Antilopen?? Probeer fietsen (Anti-walking?? Try cycling) – antilopen directly translates to antelopes – De Fietsgarage
6. Why have abs when you can have Kurio’s kebabs – Kurio’s Döner
7. Mijn Veranda: De naam zegt al genoeg! (My veranda: The name says it all!) – Mijn Veranda
8. Zo voordelig, daar ga je gwoon fram-blozen (So affordable, you’ll just blush) – a play on frambozen which are raspberries – g’woon
9. Quiche jouw moment! (Quiche your moment) – quiche sounds like kies which means choose – La Coquerie
10. Geef maar een gril en we zijn er (Just give us a grill and we’ll be there) – a play on “geef maar een gil” which is the Dutch equivalent of “just give me a shout” – Plus supermarkten

For more information about the ranking and pictures of the adverts, visit the Slogan Verkiezing website.

Thumb image credit: Dutchmen Photography / Shutterstock.com