Figueroa argues that a shop-by-shop approach like the IWW's might leave a few, isolated union shops struggling to compete with non-union shops, which could potentially backfire for employees and sap the momentum of the fast-food workers' movement.
Perceptions of dominance may contribute to a man's attraction in the clothes he wears, for instance, but it could potentially backfire.
These efforts aren't usually successful, he added, and can potentially backfire on a student or their high school if a college is able to figure out from whom an anonymous call or letter came.
That could potentially backfire, he warns: "One issue then becomes the relative location of the feeding area to the new breeding site: Relocation of colonies could actually result in birds needing to fly further and more birds needing to fly across runways to forage".
Even if devised as a timesaver, this approach can potentially backfire: surely the Big Bang Theory must be running out of vaguely scientific-sounding paradigms and paradoxes like The White Asparagus Triangulation or The Psychic Vortex sometime soon?
Taken too far, a less condemning attitude toward personal wrongdoings could potentially backfire, and decrease the likelihood of making amends.
Trying to shame voters by calling out a politician's crassness or pugnaciousness is not just a useless tactic, but could potentially backfire.
Creating a master key, or backdoor, for encrypted apps and devices would only make everyone less safe, and could potentially backfire if hackers exploit it, critics say.
But there's one group of people for whom Kondo's guiding principle — does it spark joy? — could potentially backfire: those who have a compulsive hoarding problem.
For some, I suppose, being a weekday vegetarian could potentially backfire, as it often does for weekday dieters; the weekend could turn into a 48-hour burger binge.
But some of the most potentially damaging attacks on Mr. Santorum have the potential to backfire on Mr. Romney.
