“I Silently Cringe When People Bring Them Up”: 25 Popular Things That People Say Are No Good
It's not just the quality that makes someone or something known. "People, brands, and styles become popular because the right people have adopted it — rich people, celebrities, opinion leaders ... and we copy them in the eternal human quest to be fashionable and admired," said Douglas Holt, professor of marketing at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, and previously a professor at the Harvard Business School.
According to him, cultural icons emerge because they express a particular ideology that society demands at that moment. However, not everyone might understand or agree with the messages that these beacons are sending. So when Reddit user The_Real_Garfield_ posted a question on the platform, asking others to share their favorite examples of the phrase "just because it's popular doesn't mean it's good," many obliged.
This post may include affiliate links.
Fashion brands like Louis Vuitton or Gucci. Well done, you're paying an extortionate amount of money for something you can get for half the price without the name at exactly the same quality. And half the time, the clothes/bags look ridiculous and ugly anyway! Why would you pay 3 grand for a bag you can't even get a fart into just because the label is "high end designer"?
Puts a whole new meaning to the phrase "phew! Who opened their purse?" Or "phroar, who opened their lunchbox?" To describe a detected fart in the room
Load More Replies...
Those brands that just make stuff with their own name on them are so tacky.
I don't know if those brands are tacky but the stuff they put out certainly is.
Load More Replies...
I took a sip of my drink just as I was reading "can't even get a fart into" and I snorted it up my nose. Well done to whoever wrote it! :)
If I buy anything with a logo (like a Michael Kors bag), I remove it. I’m not doing free advertising. Hell; I wouldn’t do it if I were paid for it. I’ve yet to see a logo I WANNA wear. (Exceptions: North Face and Columbia. They’re embroidered and I can’t get ‘em off without ruining the item, and they often do it so that the thread matches the fabric so you can barely make it out anyway.)
I saw this photo of a "Nike" shoe on a Chinese shopping website: SHOE-6615f...e529c2.jpg 
Do those quotation marks mean these sneakers are knockoffs (of Nike or Vuitton; take your choice)?
Most "designer" stuff is tacky looking and ill-fitting anyway. You look much smarter dressed in nice fitting plain colours. The only thing I spend decent money on is underwear and shoes/trainers, as the cheap ones don't seem to last or be comfy at all. (No Nike though, they don't last in my experience. Reebok or Puma for me, seem to be harder wearing)
Boomer here. I never wear clothing with logos, it's trashy looking and makes no sense. Your clothes should be attractive, comfortable, and flattering. They should not turn you into a walking advertisement.
You may not get a fart into one, but it's fun to try. Especially in front of the salesperson
"Luxe' brands are made in exactly the same factories as Walmart's. I used to work in the iindustry.
I don't know enough about high end merchandise such as this. Is it actually better quality than other items or is it all for prestige and status?
It's all for prestige and status. If you go to an artisan they can make you a bag. It won't be cheap but it doesn't have to be expensive. The material will be important because cow will cost less than croc. If you take a Hermes Kelly bag in the second to smallest size (25 cm) in shiny crocodile it will cost you € 42.400,-. The "cheapest" leather version in that same size is € 9.000,-. A local artisan can make you a leather bag under € 1000,-. There is a difference between cheap bags and good bags. But there is a threshold for a good bag and everything above that is paying for the brand. You can read the book Deluxe, how luxury lost it's lustre, by Dana Thomas. That tells you things as certain high profile brands that make bags in Chinese factories, ship them to Italy and finish them so that they can rank up the price and the label can legally say "made in Italy"
Load More Replies... 
Headlights so bright that the owner is the only one on the road who can see anything.
Caused my cousin to have a fatal car crash. He had only just learnt to drive at age 17
Religion. Scamming vulnerable people for centuries. Causing wars, women to be oppressed, bigging up the patriarchy. Putting the fear in people who are just trying to go about doing the best they can. Enforcing eternal sin and therefore causing people to feel guilty for things they haven't even done or that are natural things to do. Making people feel that they are bad or evil just because they are who they are. Using the cover of godliness to do unspeakable nasty things to innocent children. Stripping cultures of their individuality and enforcing the bland beliefs of mass religion onto them.
Being horrible to people for no other reason than to make you feel better about yourself. At the end of the day you’ll just end up with less people liking you.
The whole uprise of “pranks”. I love a good harmless prank that’s fun for everyone involved, but a majority of what you see trending is just harassment.
Cable TV. They should be paying us to watch commercials not us pay them.
Ditched cable fifteen years ago. Repetitive c**p with the price constantly going up.
The answer is 100% TikTok, I don’t get the appeal for it, from what limited I’ve seen of it it seems like a bunch of s**te.
Hate for Taylor Swift. It’s super trendy to hate on her. But the gal goes up on stage and actually sings and actually plays. That’s already not common in pop music. She writes her own songs; also not common. She has single-handedly gotten girls that cared nothing about football into football. She also single-handedly got young people to register to vote in America. She’s changed the world for the better. I get that people may not like her music, that’s fine. But there are people that straight up hate her simply because it’s trendy. And that’s ignorant.
Fair enough to not like her music or even to not like.her as a person but people make it a whole personality and it's ridiculous. It goes the other way with people who are obsessed to the point of worshipping her and that's all they talk about as well. She's a human leave her alone for 5 minutes!
Tik Tok influencers convincing gullible viewers to spend money on things they don't need like the trend of selling kids adult skin care.
Sequels, prequels, reboots, reimaginings etc. Just stop. .
Those damn Stanley cups. I got my wife one when they first became popular and our generic ones keep ice FAR longer.
Twilight book series. Had to tell so many people who tried to get me into those, just because it’s on the bestseller’s list doesn’t mean it’s good.
50 shades of grey is another one, the quality of the writing is abysmal!
Beats headphones. Supreme clothing. Both marketing machines. Subpar products.
Drinking bottled water. For most of us, tap water is fine but we often opt to pay for water in plastic bottles instead. So many plastic bottles.
An example of a phrase would be fast fashion. It's fashionable and affordable, but often comes with ethical and environmental concerns.
Never understood Twitter, the threads and replies are odd to follow. It should just uncollapse like Reddit. Never understood why people love it so much.
I never got Reddit. It should follow newest post after previous post, just like forums in the good old days. None of this uncollapsing stuff
Those Monster energy drinks. So overpriced and taste like pineapple flavoured cough syrup. Absolutely repulsive, I say. The worst thing I've ever bought.
SMEG. It's a kitchen appliance brand known for their cute mid-century aesthetic that's super overpriced for their functionality and quality. I silently cringe to myself when people bring them up or I see them in the wild. Even the brand name sounds gross. Did nobody ever make the connection to 'smegma' before they decided on a name?
Drake. Guy hasn't put out anything worth hearing in years. Why is he one of the most listened to artists?
The Fast and the Furious series. The series had a few great movies early on (1, 5, arguably 3), but has gotten progressively ridiculous since then. But even when it's bad, they got family.
If you're watching F&F movies intending to take them seriously, you're doing it wrong. They're not supposed to be super serious, they're supposed to be fun to watch.
Prime hydration drinks. It's crazy expensive, yet it's one of the worst electrolyte beverages around because it's low in sodium and high in potassium. It's also very low in sugar, which is NOT what you want when when you're trying to rehydrate quickly.
Video games that win awards based on revenue rather than highest consistent peak-player count and highest consistent user reviews.
You know who you are, Todd.
Selling power =/= quality. If it did, then McDonald's has the objectively best burgers on earth.
The fact that many people use credit cards and don't pay their balance in full. It's quite literally the worst way to be 'loaned money' since its often 20%+ interest. Loosing money for no reason.
I say this because there are usually ways to get loans 'when life happens' at much lower rates (maybe about 10% ish).
Yet, many, many people use this.
Being from denmark. Credit cards and credit scored have always baffled me. Why on earth to you need to “loan” money every time you buy something in order to be able to borrow money for a house/car. We do have credit cards here but no credit scores. And most people, not all, pay in cash or debit card.
People who full on guilt trip you into thinking like them. Like I’ll see videos of people drawing Disney fan art, and the comment section is full of Palestine supporters who scream that they’re a terrible person for “supporting Disney”, or vegans who say that eating meat is animal abuse, or artists who yell at beginner artists for tracing faces, and saying that they’re stealing artwork
I have a book complaint! If I'm reading a fictional book, I DO NOT need a preface, an introduction, or a prologue. Just start with Chapter 1.
Yeah maybe, but I disagree about prologue. A prologue can often very usefully provide action (of course, only when done well enough) to hook readers in & get them interested before the calm at the beginning of the story start. As well, there are amazing writers like Tolkien who can get away with prefaces and introductions, but yeah.
Load More Replies...
I don't know if that would exactly be considered "popular" as it's more INfamous than famous 😅 but you're absolutely right, it is an abundant cornucopia of crazy s**t
Load More Replies...
People who full on guilt trip you into thinking like them. Like I’ll see videos of people drawing Disney fan art, and the comment section is full of Palestine supporters who scream that they’re a terrible person for “supporting Disney”, or vegans who say that eating meat is animal abuse, or artists who yell at beginner artists for tracing faces, and saying that they’re stealing artwork
I have a book complaint! If I'm reading a fictional book, I DO NOT need a preface, an introduction, or a prologue. Just start with Chapter 1.
Yeah maybe, but I disagree about prologue. A prologue can often very usefully provide action (of course, only when done well enough) to hook readers in & get them interested before the calm at the beginning of the story start. As well, there are amazing writers like Tolkien who can get away with prefaces and introductions, but yeah.
Load More Replies... I don't know if that would exactly be considered "popular" as it's more INfamous than famous 😅 but you're absolutely right, it is an abundant cornucopia of crazy s**t
Load More Replies...