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The dumbest products you've seen advertised

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Started by CaseyHardman September 19, 2011 09:21 AM

64 comments, last by eedok 12 years, 6 months ago

CaseyHardman

2,769

Author

September 19, 2011 09:21 AM

I want to hear some of the dumbest products you've ever seen advertised. This means the product could be:

Unnecessary
Easily replaced (i.e. by a common household object)
Foolish
Extremely situational

and so on.

I can think of two right now:

1: A faucet which you tap with your arm to turn on/off. They claim it's because "sometimes your hands need a hand" and they show people with insanely exaggerated portions of sticky mass encasing their hands and tapping the faucet with their arm then washing the stuff off. The water would always come out at a fixed rate (I think), so you wouldn't be able to turn the pressure down/up, and I can already turn my faucets on with my arms: it's called applying force to the knob.

2: A hands-free, motion-sensor soap pump. You put your hand under it and it dispenses soap/hand sanitizer. This is because you don't want your sloppy mess to get all over the pump. Because you know, we all hate getting our hands dirty right before washing them.

So what were the worse products you've seen advertised?

EDIT:
Figured this picture might be considered relevant, also.

[twitter]Casey_Hardman[/twitter]

SamLowry

1,865

September 19, 2011 12:21 PM

The first one is certainly not dumb. If I interpret your description correctly, it's the kind of faucet they use at hospitals for hygienic reasons. The problem is not turning it on, it's turning it off. My kitchen has something similar: it's elongated and needs to pushed vertically, so that I can easily turn it on and off with a tiny part of the back of my hand.

It does seem though that the advertisement itself is dumb.

alnite

3,454

September 19, 2011 12:43 PM

Garlic peeler.

There are a couple more products designed with lazy people in mind. I dont remember them all unfortunately.

way2lazy2care

793

September 19, 2011 01:29 PM

Garlic peeler.

depending on the quality and price, a garlic peeler could be very useful. Garlic hands are gross smelling, and peeling garlic can be a hassle especially if you are trying to keep the cloves whole. As most of the ones I've seen are either free gifts that come with other stuff, or <$5, I wouldn't necessarily write them off.

There are definitely less useful and more expensive kitchen gadgets.

Luckless

3,283

September 19, 2011 02:43 PM

The first two are actually very practical and useful concepts. (The designs in question may be lacking)

What annoys me is that everyone in a commercial is an idiot, using an overly cheap product/dull knife, until they get the advertised product in their hands, and then they magically become competent.

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way2lazy2care

793

September 19, 2011 03:31 PM

The first two are actually very practical and useful concepts. (The designs in question may be lacking)

What annoys me is that everyone in a commercial is an idiot, using an overly cheap product/dull knife, until they get the advertised product in their hands, and then they magically become competent.

now I can have milk... every day.

tstrimp

1,798

September 19, 2011 04:57 PM

11 Products too embarrassing to use.

Antheus

2,410

September 19, 2011 05:19 PM

1: A faucet which you tap with your arm to turn on/off. They claim it's because "sometimes your hands need a hand" and they show people with insanely exaggerated portions of sticky mass encasing their hands and tapping the faucet with their arm then washing the stuff off. The water would always come out at a fixed rate (I think), so you wouldn't be able to turn the pressure down/up, and I can already turn my faucets on with my arms: it's called applying force to the knob.

2: A hands-free, motion-sensor soap pump. You put your hand under it and it dispenses soap/hand sanitizer. This is because you don't want your sloppy mess to get all over the pump. Because you know, we all hate getting our hands dirty right before washing them.

A first world problem indeed, but you will find many people bacteriofobic. You'll find people going to extremes when using any kind of shared toilet facilities or even ones at home that refuse to come into contact with any surface.

Not only are these products not dumb, they actually remove psychological barriers that can and do harm health of a relevant portion of population that would otherwise refuse to use them. Even then, it's not uncommon for people to simply refuse to use shared (not necessarily public, in office or hotel) sanitation facilities (toilets, sinks, towels, any surface related to these areas or areas which might come in contact with them by touch).

This is a serious problem and for some it can result in not using toilets for days or in extreme cases weeks. Travel agencies need to take stuff like that into account.

But it is a very specific first world problem, since in most of the world it's hard to grow up in an environment that would be sterile enough for such psychosis to develop.

Wan

1,366

September 19, 2011 05:42 PM

Different category, but: canned vegetables. Seriously, why buy something that's been soaking in a jar for who knows how long, when you can get frozen vegetables for the same price?

Except for tomatoes. Or was that a fruit?

tstrimp

1,798

September 19, 2011 05:48 PM

Different category, but: canned vegetables. Seriously, why buy something that's been soaking in a jar for who knows how long, when you can get frozen vegetables for the same price?

Except for tomatoes. Or was that a fruit?

Non-perishable with long shelf life. Canned vegetables make sense in a number of scenarios.

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