Hilarious jewellery ad design fail hits all the wrong notes

While we're all about brilliant design at Creative Bloq, we'll always have time for a clanger – and here's a design fail that hits all the wrong notes. A jewellery ad has surfaced on social media featuring an oboe being played, er, not quite correctly. 

The ad, designed to showcase a collection of gleaming rings on the musician's (and we use that word lightly) fingers, shows the oboe being held aloft – as opposed to the traditional downward angle – with the hands crossing at a frankly bizarre angle. While many of the best print adverts are sure to elicit a double-take, we're not sure it's deliberate here.

Spotted by musical instrument shop Meridian Winds on Facebook, the ad has proven a hit on social media – for all the wrong reasons. "Is that one of those rare Japanese wooden, double reed, cross over flutes?" one user comments, while another simply adds, "Using her feet would be easier." But let's not forget, as another sagely chips in, that Jimi Hendrix played the guitar backwards. Some have even taken it upon themselves to test the woman's technique themselves (below), with hilarious (and rather impressive) results.

According to Classic FM, the ad's copy loosely translates to, "a fancy diamond... colourful treasure collection," and it's the latest in a long line of examples of stock photography hitting a bum note with musicians – from guitars to cellos (below), it seems some models just don't know how to hold their instrument.

From Amazon's questionable new app icon to perhaps the only logo ever to receive a police complaint, we've seen plenty of weird and wonderful design fails over the last few months. For the ultimate hall of shame, check out these 12 design fails that were so bad they were actually good. And if you think you can do better (we think you can), take a look at today's best Adobe deals below. 

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