Top 10 Products Companies Want You To Forget About
#10 Apple Quicktake 200
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Apple is a juggernaut of the tech industry, but it’s important to remember that it hasn’t always been roses for the company. The Apple Quicktake line of digital cameras were absolutely pioneers of the medium, essentially first out of the gate for home consumers, but the final model, which changed from a Kodak to a Fujifilm build, possessed some severe flaws. There was no focus for the Apple Quicktake 200, for starters, and it could only hold eight pictures at a time. Resolution was also poor for this model, and it was only compatible with Macintosh computers. The real kicker of the Apple Quicktake 200, however? A price point of almost eight hundred dollars!
#9: McAfrika
McDonald’s is another company that’s sometimes stumbled over the years when it comes to their marketing. One of the most tone-deaf examples of this was the McAfrika, which was released in 2002 for Norwegian and Danish customers as an “authentic” African taste with one off-putting name. It was supposed to coincide with that year’s Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, and was essentially all of the traditional Mickey D’s trappings wrapped in a pita. Unfortunately, 2002 was also a year where deadly famine was ravaging countries like Zimbabwe, Swaziland and Mozambique, and the restaurant chain immediately faced heavy backlash. McDonald’s didn’t back down, and released the sandwich as planned, although franchisees did offer up donation boxes to assist in aid to countries suffering from famine.
#8: Zippo Perfumes & Colognes
We’re willing to bet that if you were to list the names of a hundred companies all vying to create the latest, trendy perfume, the people who create Zippo lighters would be the LAST ones you’d think of. Well, think again, because Zippo brand colognes and perfumes are very much a thing! Zippo doesn’t seem to heavily promote these aromatic offerings, clearly - or they’d be more well-known than they are - but they ARE still here, so they must have some sort of fan base! There’s Zippo Glorious, which reportedly possesses notes of leather, tobacco, chocolate and grapefruit, among others. Then there’s Helios, which combines watermelon, cedar, fig and musk all in a delightful package that looks like a traditional Zippo lighter. Wait, you’re not convinced? Hey, where ya goin’?
#7: Reebok Bacon
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Ok, so we know that CrossFit is popular, but this is ridiculous. Reebok Bacon was an attempt by the athletic company to strike while the iron was hot for two different sides of the cultural zeitgeist. For starters, there was the commercial profile of “bacon culture” that was emerging in 2014, but then again this is Reebok we’re talking about, so the company leaned into the low-carb, paleo dieting craze, as well. Ultimately, it’s just a crazy publicity stunt, complete with packaging that proclaimed Reebok “believed in bacon.” However, Reebok Bacon did debut at the 2014 Reebox CrossFit Games, and was pushed hard to athletes and audience members in attendance. We’re not quite sure how good it actually tasted, however.
#6: Gerber Singles
Living on your own for the first time can be tough, and the Gerber Baby Food company had an idea to make that new adventure a little easier with a brand-new product line: Gerber Singles. Essentially, this was baby food for adults, real dinners like Beef Burgundy and Mediterranean Vegetables all pureed and mashed up for quick, easy consumption. There were even….er, “yummy?” dessert options like “Blueberry Delight!” The idea, predictably enough, was a disaster, as neither college students nor the single set were biting at this new, horrible idea from Gerber, and the “Singles” line died a merciful death.
#5: Tim Hortons’ Buffalo Latte
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The next entry on our list is a bit different, in that Tim Horton’s seemed to have known right from the start what they were doing when they announced the Buffalo Latte in 2017. It was a stunt, a means to get the coffee chain trending in news outlets for this drink that was only available in Buffalo, New York. In that respect, they succeeded, although we’re willing to bet that Tim Horton’s doesn’t exactly want to be known solely as the “Buffalo Latte People.” Regardless, this spicy coffee concoction was indeed sold at their Buffalo location, although sales figures were predictably low. Still, The Buffalo News actually didn’t give the beverage that bad a review, claiming it was “surprisingly drinkable.”
#4: Gucci Balaclava
Call this one a “perfect storm” of bad taste. Public outcry was immediate and harsh when Gucci debuted this black pullover balaclava with bright red lips on its website in February 2019. The reason behind the controversy? Well, the knit sweater top looks alarmingly like blackface, for starters, and the company decided to time the release during Black History Month. This latter aspect was just an unfortunate coincidence, of course, but people jumped on it right from the get-go, and Gucci pulled the piece from its website. The balaclava was still being sold by third party vendors, however, while Gucci themselves offered up an apology for the entire debacle.
#3: Amazon Fire Phone
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There’s been a running theme thus far on this list with big companies making huge errors in judgement, but we honestly thought that the Amazon Fire Phone had potential to make an impact. There were a number of huge blunders that stopped this from happening, however, not the least of which was making Amazon’s initial foray into cellular service exclusive to AT&T. Elsewhere, critics weren’t enthused with the phone’s basic specs or Android interface, although some praised the Amazon Fire Phone’s “Dynamic Interface” visuals that mimicked 3D. Customers weren’t buying, however, and the Amazon Fire Phone barely lasted a year before it was priced down and discontinued out of existence.
#2: Prejudiced Kids’ Clothing
We have no doubt that the designers over at Zara didn’t specifically intend for this outfit for children to look like the unforms worn by prisoners in the Holocaust. Hindsight is 20/20, however, and consumers caught on almost immediately to this tragically eerie similarity. The toddler clothes were, according to Zara, “inspired by classic westerns,” with a gold star title that says “Sheriff” in the upper right-hand corner. Unfortunately, the design was just uncomfortably close to the horizontal stripes and Star of David that was present for Jewish prisoners during World War II. Zara quickly apologized and removed the outfit from sale.
#1: Samsung Galaxy Note 7
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It was the cell phone gaffe heard ‘round the world: batteries in the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 that were overheating and burned out, causing explosive fires for many of the company’s loyal consumers. The Galaxy Note 7 had arrived highly anticipated in 2016, and was selling briskly until photos and videos of the fiery aftermaths hit social media. Replacement phones with new batteries did no good, as these also caught fire for customers, to the point where Samsung was actively sending out updates to “brick” their own phones, essentially making them unusable. The company reportedly lost close to seventeen billion dollars as a result of the Galaxy Note 7 snafu, making this a cell phone debacle Samsung would definitely like to forget.
