Launched in 1971, Wonder Sauna Hot Pants were an inflatable product designed to be worn to produce a "sauna" effect, with the aim of melting fat while the wearer simply sat. Instead of cutting calories or hitting the gym - just "wear these hot pants ...
McPizzas came out in the late ’80s as a family-sized pie. They were eventually reduced to individual-sized pies, but even with the change in measurements, the cook time was still too long for McDonald's taste. Pizza took 10 minutes to cook, even ...
Launched and discontinued in 2006, ESPN burned through $150M (including $30M on a Super Bowl ad) for its mobile phone and only hit 6% of its sales target. ESPN built a wireless service and special phone so sports nuts could receive score updates, l ...
In 2008, Bernie was arrested for turning his wealth management business into a $65 billion Ponzi scheme, which collapsed during the financial crisis.
Released in 1964, Allan, was named after the son-in-law of Mattel co-founder Ruth Handler as part of the Barbie collection. He was marketed as Ken's best friend who could also fit into Ken's clothes.
Raised $1.3B and lied to patients to keep partners and investors happy leading to it's demise in 2018. In 2003, 19-year-old Elizabeth Holmes left Stanford University to found Theranos, a diagnostics startup that aimed to run hundreds of tests usi ...
In 2012, Bic created a pencil for women. Yes — a pencil for women — since it’s share amongst women was lagging. Miss Bic didn’t solve that problem, as you could guess. Ellen gives a review in 2012: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCyw3prIWhc
In 1996, this extension of the brand was too far for lovers of the motorcycle; reeked the scent of tobacco.
Webvan raised $757M to launch in 10 cities before they had proven one leading to their demise in 2001. Webvan needed $1B for each distribution warehouse in a category with small margins (e.g., 5% on groceries), while the company had a 5:1 expense t ...
In 1994, Viacom bought Blockbuster for $8.4 billion. In 2000, the year after its IPO, Blockbuster turned down an opportunity to buy Netflix for $50 million as it failed to recognize the opportunity to move online quick enough. In 2004, Blockbuster h ...
