Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Things That Were Anticipated To Be 'The Next Big Thing' That Actually Tanked

A hand holds a camera/flying drone
Photo by Tyler Casey

"Reddit user Reeceqld asked: 'What was supposed to be 'The Next Big Thing,' but totally flopped and tanked?'"

We've all succumbed to the hype surrounding something, be it a phone, show, or even a new-fangled drink.

Product rollout is so over the top these days.

The "next big thing" is usually promised to change EVERYTHING.


Then the release happens, and... the hype fizzles.

It happens to the best of everything.

From video games to weight loss products, nothing is a guaranteed hit.


Redditor Reeceqld wanted to discuss some of life's biggest flops, so they asked:

"What was supposed to be 'The Next Big Thing,' but totally flopped and tanked?"

Farewell

iphone GIF by Product HuntGiphy

"Microsoft held a literal funeral procession for the iPhone when they introduced the Windows Phone."

KaityKat117

"As someone who's worked as a software engineer since the mid-1980s, an industry where rapid change is the norm, one thing has remained the same: Apple is doomed. Any minute now."

UlrichZauber

Movie Fail

"Universal Picture's 'Dark Universe.'"

"The Mummy with Tom Cruise was supposed to start a whole line of movies, but when that one died it took the rest with it."

doowgad1

"The real tragedy is that a Dark Universe is not a bad idea. Various Universal monsters exist in the same universe? Sign me up! However, it played more like an action film than horror, because Tom Cruise cannot be in anything other than an action movie. We might have gotten Javier Bardem Frankenstein’s Monster, that is a perfect casting right there."

ChiefsHat

Negative

"Google+ was supposed to topple Facebook."

Regnes

"This was one of the worst product launches of all time. They had like one week where everyone was super excited about it and wanted to try it and they limited it to invite-only. Very few people could get in. By the time they opened it up to everyone, nobody cared anymore."

PMMeUrHopesNDreams

Never taken off...

"3D TV. I remember those being sold somewhere when we had to buy a couch, and accidentally renting the 3D version of a movie, but it never took off."

Stupid-ForYou

"This isn't anything new. The major issue seems to be that it gives a certain amount of people a headache or they find it otherwise uncomfortable. Add to that the need for the glasses even in the current iteration and you can start to see where there's an accessibility issue too."

NativeMasshole

Get Turkey

"About 25 years ago, they thought ostrich meat would be as popular as chicken."

momobeth

Chicken Nuggets Loop GIFGiphy

Not sure anyone wanted that kind of chicken nuggets!

Scooped Away

ice cream GIFGiphy

"Are Dippin' Dots still the ice cream of the future?"

The4StringSamurai

"Well, they're definitely not the ice cream of the present."

teh_maxh

Hot Wheels

"Segway."

No_Firefighter9295

"They completely underestimated how much we design cities for cars (especially in America) and how unwilling anyone is to change this."

"Look at the 15-minute cities concept. All these people are claiming isn't about population control. Can't even get pedestrians, bicycles, and cars to play nice with each other, let alone something like a Segway. Which is a shame, because if we designed cities for bikes, and segways, we might end up with something quite interesting and useful."

cobarbob

Redundant

"Quibi. It’s like they forgot that we already all had YouTube…"

Dubz1781

"I got the 3-month trial, and it was really weak. I like the idea of 10-minute shows with a new episode a day, I often watch movies I've seen before that way. But it's impossible to deny nobody was asking for it. And the dramas didn't feel like serials, it felt like awkwardly short full episodes, complete with characters standing around reminding the audience of what happened last time, which I'd just watched."

"The reality shows felt like 2 minutes stretched painfully to 10. So yeah, weird concept, the shows didn't really meet the concept anyway, and oh yeah all of the ideas were really half-baked. Here's a horror show set in different states, with legends we just kind of made up. Idris Elba competes with a NASCAR driver to do stunts basically invented for NASCAR drivers. Anna Kendrick made friends with her ex-boyfriend's sentient sex doll."

Maninhartsford

Get a Honda

"The Tata Nano. The company set out to build the lowest price new car in the world, and it succeeded. Unfortunately, newly middle-class Indian families didn’t want the stigma of owning the world’s cheapest new car, so sales never came anywhere close to expectations."

JournalofFailure

"Not a complete failure. It failed because the new chairman of the Tata group didn't see its potential and cash revenue. This led to a boardroom coup with an earlier chairman which led to disclosure that the car was not doing that great. This led to people not wanting nano car and subsequently, it stopped manufacturing in a few years."

jeetendraprasad

Big Fail

New York Yankees Reaction GIF by MLBGiphy

"Lytro. It was a light-field camera that allowed you to change a picture's point of focus after taking the image. It had a cool design and neat features capturing an Apple-like aesthetic of form and function. Huge failure but I was obsessed with them for a while."

SchnifTheseFingers

I can't remember half of these things.

So that should tell you everything.

Do you have any to add to the list? Let us know in the comments below.

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Hillary Clinton; Donald Trump
Arturo Holmes/Getty Images; Win McNamee/Getty Images

Hillary Clinton Just Threw Some Epic Shade At Trump Over His Push To Print $250 Bills Featuring His Portrait

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton mocked President Donald Trump following a report he approved a proposed design featuring his portrait on a new $250 bill bearing his signature, despite longstanding federal law barring living people from appearing on U.S. currency.

According to four current and former Treasury Department employees who spoke to the Post anonymously out of fear of retaliation, two political appointees at the department—U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach and senior adviser Mike Brown—repeatedly pressed Bureau of Engraving and Printing staff beginning last year to develop prototype designs for the bill.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from Redditor Conscious-Weight4569's video on the 'Well That Sucks' subReddit
u/Conscious-Weight4569/Reddit

Tennessee High School Sparks Debate After Graduates Get Soaked Due To 'Rain Or Shine' Policy In Viral Video

Last Thursday, heavy rain impacted the outdoor graduation ceremony for the students of Centennial High School and Franklin High School in Tennessee—but the staff, students, and their families proceeded with the event anyway.

Rain was allegedly in the day's weather forecast, but it was only expected to rain after the festivities were over. However, according to several families who were present, the rain started at the beginning of the first speech, and it didn't just rain—it poured.

Keep ReadingShow less
Kathleen Thomas reacted after a Florida deputy accused her of driving with a phone in her right hand despite her being an amputee.
@slightlyoff.balance/Instagram; CBS News/YouTube

Florida Cop Gives Woman Ticket For Allegedly Driving With Phone In Her Right Hand—Only For Her To Reveal She's An Amputee

A traffic stop in Palm Beach County is going viral for a painfully obvious reason: a deputy accused a woman of driving with her phone in her right hand—even though she literally does not have a right hand.

Kathleen Thomas, 36, was pulled over in February by a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office deputy over an alleged distracted driving violation captured on both Thomas’ phone and police body cam footage.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @mymixtapez's X video
@mymixtapez/X

Florida Man Goes Viral After Finding Millions Of Dollars Floating In Mysterious Bag At The Beach

A video has gone viral, featuring a man from Florida pulling a large package out of the ocean on Fort Lauderdale Beach and immediately calling the police to turn it in.

As it turns out, the package included millions of dollars in cash and was suspected to also contain illegal drugs.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @TRIGGERHAPPYV1's X video
@TRIGGERHAPPYV1/X

DoorDash Driver Caught Scooping Up Smoothie He Dropped On Floor Back Into Cup—And We're Gonna Be Sick

You know what they say: you can't eat everyone's cooking. As it turns out, you can't eat the food delivered by every delivery driver, either!

The internet was left collectively grossed out when camera footage went viral that featured a DoorDash delivery driver who had dropped a smoothie on the hallway floor just feet away from his destination.

Keep ReadingShow less