Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

People Explain Which Overly Hyped Products Failed Spectacularly

aquamarine shoe is placed on top of sliced peaches
Irene Kredenets on Unsplash

Not everything is a good idea and not every invention should be placed on the market.

But you'll never know what can be a success without seeing if people like it.

It may sound like a billion dollar idea but in the end, you may take a loss.


Redditor istrx13 wanted to discuss the products that went nowhere, so they asked:

"What product was supposed to be the next big thing but wound up failing miserably?"

Life is all hit or miss.

Especially when inventing.

Transport Revolution

"The Segway was once touted as a revolutionary transportation device, but ultimately failed to live up to its hype due to its high cost, limited practicality, and safety concerns."

fulfillmen25

Drunk Fried Chicken GIF by Ethan Barnowsky Giphy

Shattered

"Google Glass."

doublebankshot

"I dropped I think it was $1400 on it back then, and when I got them it was immediately obvious that they were going to be a huge disappointment; everything from UI to battery life to comfort to photo quality was so bad that my first impression was that they felt almost like a joke product rather than an actual product manufactured by a tech company, not even an early developer version."

ds445

A great idea...

"Zune was supposed to be the death of Apple's monopoly on MP3 players."

HoopOnPoop

"Zune actually wasn't a bad piece of hardware. It was just that by the time it came out, iPod was already entrenched. It was around the same price, so it couldn't undercut Apple on pricing. ZunePass was actually a pretty great idea, years before Spotify."

Wulfbak

"My favorite thing about Zune is that it featured what was actually a pretty cool and interesting design feature wherein a user could send a song to another Zune user for free, but Microsoft chose the single worst possible name for this feature, calling it 'squirting.' Zune kids back in the day had to be like 'Ayyy bro that song is fire, squirt that at me.'"

HostileSkittles

Fly High

"Hoverboards. I think their primary problem was their lack of ability to hover. Also 300 ish dollars for something that goes as fast as... legs is just dumb."

IceClimbers_Main

"Their main downfall was the many, many cheap and dangerous clones from china. When the OG hoverboards were too expensive for most, the big Chinese companies saw a hole to get into the market making them for pennies on the dollar by removing safety devices, using cheaper batteries, lower gauge wire, etc. It was for the worst."

ptthree420

Entertainment Options

"Curved TVs… oh and 3D TVs we’re a thing for a while too!"

Sherlockssocks

"I own a curved 3D TV. I've probably used the 3D less than a hundred times. I think if they'd pushed the spilt screen gaming thing a bit more they would have sold more."

Signal-Morning7669

Shake Your Rump Television GIF by Beastie Boys Giphy

Those curved TVs freak me out.

I just liked my DVD

"Laser discs...? I think they were called. Picture a DVD the size of a record."

Drawn-Otterix

"Laserdiscs were successful, they're just an obsolete format now."

Born_Anteater_3495

digital audio spinning GIF by Feliks Tomasz Konczakowski Giphy

Cleansed

"Olestra/Olean. It was going to transform all junk food into low fat. Instead, it transformed lower GI tracts."

1800sMan

"OMG this! Around 1998 I worked for a huge ad agency on Madison Ave in NYC that had the Pringles account. They were pushing that Olestra trash at the time and obvi it was to be part of the campaign we were creating. One day I grab a can and start munching away."

"Well 15 minutes later I feel like I’ve swallowed a hand grenade and start racing to the bathroom where I proceed to destroy the bathroom for a good half hour. It just would not stop. I swear I saw a demon that day while emptying my poor bowels. Never ever again with that Olestra garbage."

bruh_wut69

Guess What?

"Oh man this is really specific to my career field in childcare."

"Smart diapers. Yep, diapers that will inform you on your app when your child uses them. I don’t know anyone who seriously considered getting these. But I remember seeing ads on my social media for them. Guess what? No one wanted them."

Onlyfansnanny

"As a law student, my son worked on getting the patent and prototype on these a little over ten years ago. At the time, however, they were being marketed to nursing homes. IDK whatever happened with that."

Ok-Bee1579

The Mess

"Meta."

SuperScario

"I finally decided to look up what meta was on Youtube a few months ago and I swear I thought I was watching some Nintendo wii game or something. My jaw hit the floor when I realized that's what meta actually looked like, billions of dollars for a Nintendo looking world, what a f**king dumpster fire."

twister55555

Bute Sized

"Quibi."

chyna094e

"Part of it was the worst timing imaginable. The service was meant to be 'bite sized' entertainment, something you could watch in 5 minutes while standing in a queue or maybe a couple segments on a public transit ride."

"They launched the first week of April 2020. Remember all the queues you were standing in and public transit rides you took then? Yeah, the same as everyone else - NONE because 95% of the population was stuck at home for 6 months!"

alinroc

Minis...

"Spore. It was hyped as a game that went from spark of life to galactic conquest. It's just a bunch of mini games."

rosanymphae

College Hoops Sport GIF by NCAA March Madness Giphy

I missed the spore phenomenon.

Oh well.

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Karoline Leavitt
Win McNamee/Getty Images

Karoline Leavitt Slammed After Suggesting Reports Of Deadly Strike On Iranian Girls' School Are Just 'Propaganda'

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was criticized after she rejected reports that the U.S. struck a girls' elementary school in Iran, killing 175 people, insisting in remarks to the press pool that it's just Iranian "propaganda" that they've "fallen" for.

Iranian state media and health officials said the strike occurred early Saturday morning in Minab, in the country’s southern Hormozgan Province. Journalists from international news organizations have not been granted access to independently verify the reported death toll or the circumstances surrounding the strike.

Keep Reading Show less
Screenshots from @madswellness's TikTok video
@madswellness/TikTok

Woman Sparks Debate With Her Viral Hot Take That We Should 'Normalize Not Liking Dogs'

We're all different people with different interests, and it's perfectly okay that we like different things.

But there are some people who passionately, even vehemently, draw the line at other people liking or disliking dogs.

Keep Reading Show less
Screenshots from @vanellimelli030's TikTok video
@vanellimelli030/TikTok

Model Accuses Fashion Brand Of Using AI To Recreate Her Looks For Ad Instead Of Hiring Her

There used to be laws in place for someone's likeness being used without their consent, and most certainly if their likeness was being used in an exploitative way for profit.

But now with the rise of AI-generated photographs, advertisements, and other digital products, the lines seem to have become muddied between the illegal stealing of someone's likeness and AI "inspiration."

Keep Reading Show less
Screenshots from @anissahm15's TikTok video
@anissahm15/TikTok

TikToker Secretly Records Unhinged Spectrum Employee Screaming At Her For Trying To Cancel Her Service

Employees in commission-based positions are feeling increasingly pressured to acquire new clients, retain previous clients, and solve the issues their clients call in about with high satisfaction ratings.

Even though tensions are high, and the pressure they're feeling may be unrealistic for any one person to take, that doesn't give them the right to mistreat people who do not want to sign up or want to cancel.

Keep Reading Show less
Screenshots from @hustleb***h's TikTok video
@hustleb***h/TikTok

Travel Influencer Posts Viral 'Hack' Using Hotel Coffee Maker To Wash Her Underwear—And We're Horrified

We've all worried about packing enough clothes when we go on a trip, especially when it's the really important stuff, like underwear and socks.

But travel influencer @tarawoodcox11 thoroughly grossed out the internet when she shared a hack for maintaining clean, or at least cleaner underwear, while on the go. The video was later shared by the TikTok platform @hustleb*tch where it went viral.

Keep Reading Show less