40 Products That Failed Just Because People Were Too Stupid To Understand Them
Products, just like people, have life cycles. Typically, their existence is broken into four stages—introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. And, just like ours, the time of each one can vary greatly.
So when a post on r/AskReddit invited people to name the products that they believe have died just because we weren't smart enough to understand them, it received plenty of replies.
From movies to gaming consoles and even foods, here are some of the most interesting submissions and the stories behind their demise.
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The US National Park Service struggled for years to find a locking trash can that would be able to keep bears out. People couldn't figure them out so they wouldn't lock it back up, or litter, rendering them useless. One park ranger was quoted as saying there was considerable overlap between the dumbest people and the smartest bears.
The 1/3lb burger because people thought it was smaller than the 1/4lb one.
Initially? The idea of washing your hands was resisted to the point that the man pushing the idea of hand washing was driven to a mental breakdown from the ridicule of his peers.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis#:~:text=Despite%20various%20publica,tions%20of%20results,rejected%20by%20the%20medical%20community](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis#:~:text=Despite%20various%20publications%20of%20results,rejected%20by%20the%20medical%20community).
Today's equivalent would be a toss up between masks and vaccines. Because some >!(overly vocal, inbred, mouth breathing Jesus freak)!< people are just too f*****g stupid to listen to science.
About 15 years ago Arm & Hammer came out with a series of environmentally safe cleaning products for bath, kitchen, and glass. They worked well, smelled good, and I really liked them.
The drawback for dummies was the reusability of the spray bottle. Refills came in a cartridge the size of a five hour energy shot. You filled the bottle up to the fill line with water then screwed the cartridge into the bottle which had special inner threads to open the cartridge. The spray bottle was sold empty with a cartridge attached. The checker at the store paused when ringing me up to ask if I really wanted to pay six bucks for an empty bottle. When I bought the glass cleaner I got the same question. Nobody bought it because they didn't realize how it was packaged.
Quarantine procedures!
Jesus Christ we could have released these lockdowns months ago if people just listened to the experts!
PS South Africa, which is according to Herr Orange Hitler, a shithole, has a per-capita death rate lower than USA and we were out of covid like a year ago. Really. WHY? because we masked up and took our vaxes and ate our vegetables. Instead of waving flags and yelling about freedumb.
Golden Rice.
In many countries in southeast Asia White rice is the main food. But white rice lacks Provitamin A, which is essential for lots of stuff in the eyes and immune system.
So some scientists developed a new species of rice which has been genetically engineered to produce golden rice.
Studies have shown that the rice could be a serious help in those countries and it grows just as good as normal rice.
But because it is evil generic engineering lots of organizations give their best to slow the approval process down with (in most cases) b******t and some idiots keep destroying test fields.
EVERY SINGLE FOOD PLANT we currently eat are "GMOs", technically. XD Corn is GMO maize. I won't even go into the number of GMO cultivars of good old Brassica oleracea. "Genetically modified organism" does not translate into "evil scientists tinkered with its genes in a lab!!!" Cross-breeding and selective breeding are also "genetic modifications".
Those little shopping carts at grocery stores for kids. A bunch of dumb a*s parents refused to parent their kids and they would just let them jam the carts into displays, peoples legs, other carts etc, so almost all grocery stores in our area got rid of them. They were made so kids could put their own choices into the cart and be mindful of what they choose, not babysitter bumper cars.
Removable batteries on smartphones.
People couldn't handle the "cHeAp PlAsTiC" on a phone they were putting a case on anyway. As a result, we can't change the batteries in smartphones anymore.
I don't believe that is the reason. I believe it is manufacturers using planned obsolescence so they can sell more phones / tablets. "Sorry. No user serviceable parts". Apple would rather throttle the speed of your old iphone with an aging battery and tell you to buy the newest model than say, "Here, just pop in a new battery and you're good to go"
I agree with your assessment. I have cracked open a couple of our laptops over the years to replace the batteries and give them a few more years of life, in one case, I had to remove the battery because it was swelling up. Haven't had a phone that would be worth doing that kind of repair on but inability to make your own repairs is really frustrating.
Load More Replies... That's not true... Manufacturers optimize and remove Battery because this could save more storage space, and reduce the need of the connector circuit, battery barrier (protector case) in battery and motherboard.
*And* no user replaceable parts mean more money in their pockets.
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One reason for a non-removable battery is the phone is more water resistant or even water proof.
I don't agree. From big cameras to small watches a lot of devices are quite water resistant still we can change the batteries. Main point of this trend that they want us to throw away our old phones and get a new one as frequent as possible. They are deliberately built as unrepearable and un-upgradeable.
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or apple decided to stop it because they want to charge you for a "genius" to replace the battery at an istore.
The trend may have started due to phone makers going for more "premium feeling" materials such as aluminum or glass, but nowadays they argue that it would ruin water and dust resistance. I call bs on that. Let us not forget that the Samsung Galaxy S5 from way back in 2014 had a removable battery while still having an IP67 rating for water and dust resistance. It may be harder to pull off, but it IS doable. On the other hand, there are talks here in the EU about passing laws requiring manufacturers of consumer electronics to bring back removable batteries, or at least make them easily replaceable by end-users, so there is hope. Universal use of USB C will be mandatory on all new device launches starting in 2024, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for removable batteries as well, even though it may take a few years.
The disappearance of the option to remove the battery also has major privacy implications. It used to be posisible to ensure that you weren't being tracked or listened to by removing the battery, but this is no longer the case.
Well, if it is a concern to the point you would remove the battery, another simple option is to wrap the phone in aluminum foil. You can find videos on youtube demonstrating this. Apparently even a single layer is enough as long at it forms a complete 'box' around the phone (no gaps).
Load More Replies... Smartphone companies took away removable batteries because of planned obsolescence. I cannot believe people think these for profit mega corporations are making decisions for any reason other than to drive more sales.
I've read this is because smartphone companies want to force you to buy a new phone more often. And I believe that more than this because w6e stupid as people are, corporate greed is worse!
If I remember correctly, EU requires all future smartphones to have removable battery. Not sure when.
actually that is not the reason, same reason why laptops no longer have removable. You can shave off 1/3 of the depth of a smartphone by making it integrated rather than removable. This was done to make them thinner, not because of stupid people. Laptops went the same way to make them thinner
Is this really the consumers fault? I thought it was phone manufacturers sticking it to us even harder with the designed obsolescence (can't change your battery? Throw the whole thing away and get a new one, dip-s-hit!)
They didnt get rid of them because people didnt like it, they got rid of them to make more money. You cant change battery yourself, you will either pay them to rapair the phone or buy a new one
It was done so you'll have to send your phone to a technician or replace it with a new phone.
When did they do this, my Huawei Honor 8 changed battery just fine, and i think that was just around 5 years ago? Or is this just another one of those dumb apple things
Even with an case the back-glass would always shatter on my phone after one accidental (small) drop, while the screen remained in optimal state. Then you NEEDED the case to avoid the walk of shame. And after 1 year the battery issues starts.... The old phones lasted me for years, and Indeed, just by once in a while changing a battery. Miss my Nokia 3310.... (I lost it.....)
this has less to do with people and cheap plastic and more to do with manufacturers wanting to force people to buy new phones. With removable batteries you can keep a phone far longer than you can now!
This one is b******t. removable baterries were removed with the excuse that to make it submergeable you needed to seal the battery, so it wouldn´t be accessible. However the real reason that this was done, was to force you to go to an official repair site to be able to change your battery, and make themselves sure to win more money.
I think we don’t get removable batteries anymore because sealing it all up helps with the water and dust resistancy.
Fortunately for me, all my phones are either cheapies or hand-me-downs from my wife, and so have removeable batteries. I love the fact that if the phone becomes totally unresponsive I can simply remove the battery to cause a reboot
That's not the reason... The reason is because now you have to spend more money to buy a whole new phone rather than just a cheap new battery. sounds like you are the dumb one who couldn't handle it. Built in obsolescence. look into it, it's going to blow your f*****g mind.
What?! Don't all phones not made by Apple have removable batteries? Every phone I've ever had does. I carry a spare battery when I travel because it's less bulky than a power bank. As easy as changing the batteries in your TV remote.
There are almost no Android phones with removable batteries. The major manufacturers haven't done that in almost a decade. The last Android phone I had with a removable battery was an HTC Vivid I bought in 2012.
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it's not because of the cases! dirt/dust/water resistance did this. And a need to keep the devices thiiiiiin by companies.
Idk why you got downvoted because you are 100% correct.
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Phone companies were trying to make the phones more water resistant, which is impossible to do if you have a removable battery. It's what the consumers wanted, unfortunately.
There was a lottery ticket scratch off that had a temperature listed on it. You would scratch off to reveal your own temperature, and if it was colder than the listed one, you win. Pretty simple, right?
It failed because people don’t understand negative numbers. People called in claiming that they “won” because -6 is “colder” than -8.
It is not. The ticket was ultimately discontinued.
Police Squad!, made by the guys who did Airplane! and widely considered pound for pound one of the funniest TV shows that's ever aired. But it failed because it required audiences to actually pay close attention to the quickfire gags and fast dialogue. Led to ABC's president memorably saying it was cancelled because "the viewer had to watch it in order to appreciate it."
Later it was adapted into the Naked Gun movies, which were smash successes, probably because people in theaters are locked down into the movie.
Check out the Video "Police Squad - Name Confusion" on Youtube. That is hilarious!
For a while, seat belts, because auto executives thought it implied the car was unsafe.
masks, vaccines, and anything else scientists spend literal years researching
Nuclear power
People will never understand how safe nuclear waste is as long as the media exists, so it's better to just shove the idea down the drain and invest in fusion energy.
My dad once told me about how they tried to sell crumpets in a new country and they did really poorly because no one realised that they were supposed to be toasted. I think once they updated the packaging to tell everyone they were supposed to be toasted they did a lot better.
COVID symptom checking websites. People don’t want to comply with these as a preventive measure to determine potential outbreaks before they occur because “they’re tracking my personal information.”
The COVID symptom checking programs track only your responses and if it’s through your employer or school, only your school or employee ID number. They don’t understand that their phones track much more information than the COVID symptom checkers.
I'd have to say freedom. Too many people strip it down to "doing whatever the hell you want", and do all kinds of stupid and destructive things and give a bad name to the concept. Then people who know what freedom really is, but don't want people to be free, use it as a pretext for taking away our freedoms.
In Sweden we had twopacks of sugarcubes at cafés. They were really simple to open, just hold it with the weld up, pinch each half and break it in half. The weld would open in an elegant way and expose the sweetness inside, ready to be taken out and consumed. Just like opening a book.
Very few understood this.
People would rip, tear, scratch, bite and do all sorts of f**kery to open the innocent packs of sweet reward. And they complained, oh they complained.
Story goes the inventor were depressed for life because just a few brilliant people could understand the beauty of his brilliant little treasure chests of sugary heaven. F*****s.
Off the wall one but: Soap that doesn't sud.
A chemical needs to be added to soap in order for it to sud, and it was added so people would know that they were scrubbing enough. Now, people all expect soap to sud, so if someone puts out soap that doesn't have that chemical, people say the soap is broken.
The Wii U. People didn't know it was a new console and thought it was just a regular Wii, an add on to the Wii or who knows what else. A different name would have solved this entire problem. People still don't know how to distinguish Wii U games from regular Wii games, even though Wii U games will not play on a Wii console.
Marketing Geniuses take note, if you have a new product give it a different name than a slight variant on its predecessor.
They put out instant cake mix in the 50's. You only needed to add water, but no one would buy it. I think they couldn't believe you could make a cake with just powder and water. They discontinued it.
cen-texan replied: There was a story when I was in school that the marketing guys figured out that if you take out the powdered egg and had the end user add eggs it would sell.
They figured that as women were going into the workforce and weren't able to cook a full meal, the felt guilty about buying a complete mix. Having the end user add real eggs gave them the feeling that they were really baking and not just pouring powder out of a box.
Eh, not really. The early mixes with powdered egg and powdered milk gave very bad results, people noticed and this confirmed the skepticism about this new product, effectively killing it until it was fixed. The protein part of the eggs and the fats of the milk when quickly re-hydrated tended to clump together. The dry eggs went brown and soggy quickly. The drying process used in the 50s and 60s altered the sugar content of the egg and favored bacterial alterations that gave an off flavor and prevented stable whisking. A reliable, safe and cost effective process for egg drying was perfected only in the 80s, when pasteurized foam-spray drying and selective glucose removal techniques became available on the market.
In 1979, Clairol rolled out their touch-of-yogurt shampoo, which they hoped would help people with oily hair. Unfortunately for them, oily-haired consumers didn’t like the idea of washing their hair with yogurt. The few who did buy the shampoo thought it was edible, only to be disappointed after getting sick as a result.
I can't remember which brand it was now, one of these french sounding ones, which released a "soft laser" cream. I was like, no ... laser isn't a substance...?!?
The Zune. Mayyybe a stretch but you could pay a monthly subscription ($10 if memory serves) for unlimited downloads. As long as you had the subscription, you could download anything you wanted to your device. On top of that you got 10 song credits a month you could use to buy songs to keep forever. As a music lover, I thought this was a better option than paying a buck a song from Apple for your iPod, plus I recall it being a cheaper device with more storage. All you can eat music for $10 plus I get 10 songs a month to keep forever? Not bad. People still think I’m crazy when I bring it up. Granted, the stuff you didn’t own would go away of you ever canceled the subscription, but still, it’s not that different a concept from streaming platforms like Spotify.
There were feature differences too though. Later gen iPods had built in cameras and were basically budget smartphones, whereas the Zune needed extra accessories to take pictures or videos. The Zune's screen was smaller so watching movies/shows on it wasn't as good and it's battery didn't last as long as the iPod's either and transferring songs from your Zune to other devices was a tad trickier than with the iPod. I don't particularly like Apple products but they had the superior hardware in this case.
We had a guy come talk to us at my college about his experience in marketing. He mentioned that when he used to work for Campbell's (I think) they had trouble breaking into the Chinese market with their instant soup. They had just assumed that it would sell just as well there as anywhere else but apparently it was the same kind of issue as you mentioned where I guess culturally it was seen as "cheap" to just heat up some instant soup. So they rebranded and repackaged it as a dry mix that you had to actually add to boiling water and lo and behold it started selling
When Yosemite became more popular the Rangers began to notice a problem with locals feeding bears food. The issue is that feeding bears food is the equivalent of giving them crack. They will instantly become aggressive, and will begin ravaging campsites and cars.
Blinkers
BMW/Audi drivers still can't grasp the concept of blinkers, by default
Nearly 50% of HDTV’s in the early era were returned because people plugged in their RCA cables as the main video source.
They not only didn’t understand what HD was, they thought the picture looked worse, as it was distorted on a 16:9 screen.
Yep, I had to explain this to a LOT of old people. It's the same people who give you a portrait-orientation photo and want you to render it as a landscape version, and then complain that it is "fat" and "Stretched"
Most drugs, such as morphine and LSD. They started as perfectly legal drug, that could have positive effects if used correctly. But people started abusing them and they ended up outlawed in most countries.
American liberalism. People thought that saying "the land of the free" would make it the land of the free, regardless of law changes.
Those chip bags that would decompose in the ground. Too noisy, they said.
But I kind of feel all chip bags are noisy to some degree. That being said, we should've either poured the contents into a washable bowl or plate or something like that or just used the noise as a deterrent to prevent over-eating
Anyone who has tried to sneak Doritos at 2am without waking up the rest of the house knows that EVERY chip bag is noisy af, clocking in at around 120 decibels XD
Representative Democracy.
And compulsory voting. Works just fine where I live. Don't want to vote? Get your name crossed off the register then cast a blank ballot paper (it's only compulsory to turn up to vote as no one is made to vote). In my mind, I'm there so I may as well vote. It's the epitome of democracy when over 90% of the population cast a valid vote.
Netbooks.
There is a market nowdays for pocket-sized computers with an actual keyboard and a desktop OS, sadly people saw them only in their infancy when they were slow and sluggish. Manifacturers stopped making them just when technology became small enough to really fit a proper processor inside a little bugger not bigger than 7". Now we got games you can stream from a bigger rig, some office jobs are actually made outside the office, we consume a lot more digital medias, just think about how many people buy bluetooth keyboard for their tablet! If we made netbooks today again, and made them good, and cheap, they would be common sight.
I still have my netbook! It's still running Windows XP and the screen whites out, but it's great for school if they need an extra laptop (we run EduBoard with a laptop and projector). I let them use mine and I plug in my little netbook.
The first electric cars. For the people don't know, electric cars were actually invented before gas powered ones, but people back then had so little clue/regard for climate that it never cought on until recently
It was more about cost back in those early days. The first Ford was an electric vehicle, but the cost was prohibitive. Charging was primitive back then as well and not many rural households were hooked up to electricity.
Condoms!
NJ vehicle registration expiration stickers. They were issued about 15 years ago. Idea was simple, place sticker in upper right corner of license plate. Next years sticker, place over the old one.
NJ drivers, stick the first one on correctly and subsequent stickers go anywhere on the license plate.
It was pathetic the patterns of stickers I would see. The state stopped sending them out because it clearly didn’t catch on.
Complicated videogames, they've been super dumbed down over the years.
Dyson hand dryers. Put hands in, slowly pull out over 10 seconds
Dumbf***s just waved hands in a blade of air which dries 5mm wide
I've never been fond of the idea of air dryers that blow whatever c**p is on your hands into a fine aerosol mist into the surrounding area :p Yes, I know you use them AFTER you wash your hands, but how many people properly wash their hands thoroughly? Plus, many times the bacteria can in fact be colonizing the inside of the hand dryer because it's been aerosolized from the toilets flushing open (no lids down). So, bacteria goes everywhere in the bathroom, some ends up in the air dryer... and you vent it directly onto your hands to dry them :(
Sega Dreamcast?
I still have mine! And I still have my Chao tamagotchi-style pet from Sonic on the memory card XD
Note: this post originally had 66 images. It’s been shortened to the top 40 images based on user votes.
Anyone remember when JCPenney did away with having sales and coupons and simply priced everything with it's true fair price. It was great. They nearly went bankrupt.
How about AMC movie theater trying to create a policy where it was ok to use your electronic devices in movies…they ended up filing for bankruptcy and dropping the concept.
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Paper straws. Everyone saw the video of the turtle that had the plastic straw pulled from it's nose and there was this big "environmental" push to switch to biodegradable paper straws, then those stainless steel straws came out for those really committed. I say it failed because is the environment really better off? No. Capitalism won yet again, it just turned into yet another product to buy. There is still plastic everywhere and switching to a paper straw does jack squat to put a dent in the amount of trash we collectively produce.
Definitely. Any choices an individual attempts to make in their lifestyle amounts to nothing when faced with the produce of major corporations, who, incidentally, push environmentally-friendly agendas onto consumers but refuse to do the same themselves. So then they go scot-free, and the rest of us are left to feel like the fate of the world lies only on our shoulders. 🤷
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Hydrogen fuel cell cars. They actually managed to make them reality. But advertising was garbage, so everyone decided electric cars would save us.
Here's one: American spelling. Noah Webster believed that literacy would increase, particularly among immigrants whose first language was not English, if the spelling were consistent and systematic. He proposed a completely revised system of spelling. However, instead of adopting it completely or rejecting it completely, either of which would have been an ultimate win, people decided to do it in bits, take some leave some. This led American English to be even more confusing than it already was.
There were 8. Yes EIGHT of them at the store I work at and they lasted about 8 weeks. Why do folks have to be such idiots and steal??
Not a failure, but difficult to install & use properly: infant rear-facing carseats.
Anyone remember when JCPenney did away with having sales and coupons and simply priced everything with it's true fair price. It was great. They nearly went bankrupt.
How about AMC movie theater trying to create a policy where it was ok to use your electronic devices in movies…they ended up filing for bankruptcy and dropping the concept.
Load More Replies... Paper straws. Everyone saw the video of the turtle that had the plastic straw pulled from it's nose and there was this big "environmental" push to switch to biodegradable paper straws, then those stainless steel straws came out for those really committed. I say it failed because is the environment really better off? No. Capitalism won yet again, it just turned into yet another product to buy. There is still plastic everywhere and switching to a paper straw does jack squat to put a dent in the amount of trash we collectively produce.
Definitely. Any choices an individual attempts to make in their lifestyle amounts to nothing when faced with the produce of major corporations, who, incidentally, push environmentally-friendly agendas onto consumers but refuse to do the same themselves. So then they go scot-free, and the rest of us are left to feel like the fate of the world lies only on our shoulders. 🤷
Load More Replies... Hydrogen fuel cell cars. They actually managed to make them reality. But advertising was garbage, so everyone decided electric cars would save us.
Here's one: American spelling. Noah Webster believed that literacy would increase, particularly among immigrants whose first language was not English, if the spelling were consistent and systematic. He proposed a completely revised system of spelling. However, instead of adopting it completely or rejecting it completely, either of which would have been an ultimate win, people decided to do it in bits, take some leave some. This led American English to be even more confusing than it already was.
There were 8. Yes EIGHT of them at the store I work at and they lasted about 8 weeks. Why do folks have to be such idiots and steal??
Not a failure, but difficult to install & use properly: infant rear-facing carseats.
