The market of product delivery is a fickle, sometimes senseless beast. There have been so many fads, inventions and ideas that everyone was sure would revolutionize the world. Moments of creative advertising and strategic planning and unveiling go into the perfect introduction. The budgets are blown are cash is thrown.
The heralding of something new and innovative is trumpeted. The hype is big and the anticipation high. Then every once in a while... THUD! What was to be the next big thing is the next big floppy disaster.
Redditoru/MexPoosyConoisseurwanted to compare notes on the items that left us disappointed, by asking:
What was hugely hyped up but flopped?
In my medium of art (film/tv/theatre/literature) the hype/flop game is the norm more times than we care to admit. Sending art to the masses is always a gamble. And every gamble has a loser.
I'll do Diet!
90s 1990s GIF by PepsiGiphy"Crystal Pepsi."
- cujokila
"Crystal Pepsi taught me that everything is a lie. If they can make Pepsi clear or whatever color they want, then what other lies have I been led to believe?"
'the thing'
"When the Segway came out I remember an expert on Good Morning America saying that they would design cities around it in the future, instead of cars. Before it was called a Segway it was referred to as 'the thing' and new information about it was treated like freaking nuclear codes."
It's a Negative....
"Google+. It stayed in invitation only phase for way too long. By the time it was open to everyone, people forgot about it and it flopped."
"They also forced you to use it if you had any other kind of google account so people naturally resisted it. What they didn't understand is that people use other social media websites if they have something unique to offer. Unfortunately now it seems like every social media site is copycatting each other."
- antivn
3D
"I still remember 3D TVs were supposed to be the next "technological leap" or something. Even the World Cup was broadcasted in 3D. Then it just died out."
"Not just TV, but that era where every movie had a 3D version in theatres. As someone who wore glasses and is nearsighted, I was never able to watch them."
Cats GIF by Kitty Is Not A CatYeah I gave up on cat toys early on, and dog toys. My dogs have never really been into stuffed animals, or squeaky balls. Thank God. And I always thought the Segway was weird and unstable.
Bad Moves
Taylor Kitsch What GIFGiphy"The Nivelle Offensive It was hyped to win WW1 for France in 48 hours. Instead it was so bad that it started a mutiny, got Nivelle fired, and had casualty numbers an order of magnitude higher than expected."
Bad Diet
"Atkins diet-esque food items at fast food restaurants in like 2008 or whatever it was. They came and they went like the wind I remember KFC tried to get in the game at the time by claiming their chicken was healthy because it was low in carbs. That went down like a lead balloon."
Senseless...
"Juicero. The ultimate culmination of unicorn companies that make no sense."
"It was partially bankrolled by GOOGLE and I heard that people speculated that the DRM thing it had was so Google could harvest user data. That's gotta be the dumbest way to do that ever why would Google care about people's organic glorified juice box preferences."
"Ooooh. When I read that word, it rang a bell so I looked it up. I remember seeing advertisements for that thing. I think I remember seeing a video of someone opening up their packets and showing it was just... A mush. That you pressed to get a drink out of."
Not so Slender...
"The 2018 Slender Man movie... I remember before it came out it had like a 92% want to see on rotten tomatoes after it came out it got a 17% liked it."
"Honestly the movie shouldn't have been PG13. An R rating (which as far as I know was actually the original focus) would've been much better, as then the movie would've been more like the creepypasta and not like a child's fanfiction. It sucks the R rating was cut but "wOUlD sOMeOnE tHiNK oF tHE ChIlDrEN?????????????"
Foreigners Explain Which Parts Of American Culture Seem Strange | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
America, land of the free... and oversized portions and cars. That's how the saying goes, right? There are some baffling quirks about the United States. That...The Hunt
geraldo rivera man GIF by South Park Giphy"Geraldo Rivera's special Mystery of Al Capone's vault in the 1980s. 💩"
He Lies
"That David Copperfield special where he "made the statue of liberty disappear." Forget that crap."
"The one thing I'll never forget from that: they interviewed some older women and she said, "I've never seen a Statue of Liberty disappear like that one did!"
"If I remember correctly, the camera and the bleachers with the audience were on a stabilized platform. They just trucked both a few feet to the side until the statue was out of camera shot, then pulled back the curtain."
Universal Fail
"The dark universe (the mummy)."
"I saw that movie with absolutely no idea they were trying to start this off and was so frigging confused when Dr Jekyll turns up out of nowhere for no reason."
"The cast that did that photo shoot before they even had one successful film is pretty cringe to see. The marketing for the failed universe is more entertaining than the actual movies."
Bad Pitch
"Ouya."
"To this day I cannot believe it even got that much hype and money during the kickstarter campaign. Even in the initial pitch it didn't seem that impressive or interesting so thankfully, I decided to wait until it was out. Never ended up buying one, obviously."
coke cola dancing GIFLet me see...
"I remember google glasses were supposed to be the next big thing but let me tell you I haven't seen a single pair out in the wild."
"I think Google got a big whiff of the vast majority of the population being really mad that people could film with the glasses without anyone ever knowing. I think it scared them off. People did not want this, and there were many people who seemed ready to fight people who wore these glasses."
Keep your baby...
"TY beanie babies. Everyone thought they were going to be rich when I was in high school."
- NXTsec
"I put a new coat of some all-weather sealant on this lady's playground set for her little kids. I was 13, it was summer, got, and she asked my dad if I could help her out. 6 hours later, she pays me with one single beanie baby. "This is gonna be worth a lot of money one day. Your afternoon of work has made you rich as an adult." Freaking bullcrap."
- boydboyd
"Is anything happening?"
"The end of the world in 2012."
"My cousin texted my the day that we were all supposed to die. She said "is anything happening?" And I was like "what do you mean? No. Nothing is happening" she really said "oh, well you live in a time zone ahead of us by 2 hours. I thought stuff would happen over there on the east coast first." I freaking died. The thought of the world imploding on itself but still following time zones is fantastic."
Disaster
"Quibi. That streaming service with nothing over 10 minutes. Launched about 3 weeks after the world shutdown."
"Did anyone other than the company hype up Quibi? That thing had disaster written all over it the moment it was announced and everyone seemed in agreement about that."
- MumrikDK
Oh Garth
Country Music 2018 Cmas GIF by CMA AwardsGiphy"In the life of Chris Gaines. The project where Garth Brooks created a grunge icon that would premiere in a movie."
Flames
"Fyre Festival is the ultimate "hyped but flopped". It's a cautionary tale of what NOT to do when organizing and/or promoting something."
"It's really just a cautionary tale not to scam people. It's organization and promotion worked totally efficiently, but it was a scam from start to end. Otherwise it wouldn't have worked and we wouldn't be talking about it today."
Well on paper they all sounded like good ideas. Maybe the issue lies in the execution. Try again perhaps? Except Slender Man and Geraldo. No, just no.
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No matter how long ago we saw it, there are some scenes or images from movies that still send shivers down our spine or keep us awake at night to this very day.
Pennywise appearing in the sewer in It, Janet Leigh surprised in the shower in Psycho, Freddy Kreuger's tongue popping out of the telephone in A Nightmare on Elm Street.
Of course, some of the scariest, most disturbing, or most emotionally traumatizing scenes from films might have been featured in films outside of the horror genre.
Even more shockingly, some of these films were primarily marketed towards children!
Redditor alina_love was curious to hear which non-horror films the Reddit community saw as children still send shivers down their spines today, leading them to ask:
"What's a non horror movie that traumatized you as a kid?"
It Was Tim Burton, After All...
"'Pee Wee's big adventure'."
"Large Marge scared the crap out of little me."
"I was even scared of the fortune teller."- BlueStarrSilver·
With A Title Like "Temple Of Doom"...
"'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom'."
"The scene where the guy gets his heart ripped out traumatized me for years."- Pbhf
That Funeral Scene Though...
"'My Girl'."
"Fear of death, fear of losing a friend, fear of bees, fear of puberty."- heidismiles
macaulay culkin kiss GIFGiphyJurassic Park's Got Nothing On This...
"'The Land Before Time'."
"Watching Little Foot’s mother die was awful."- HourglassSass
He'll Always Regret Not Bringing Her To The Museum...
"'Bridge to Terabithia'."- jumpstart-the-end
"Everything goes so well and it falls apart SO FAST and your left absolutely traumatized."- VortexDestroyer99
The Reason People Hold On To Their Appliances For As Long As They Do...
"The Brave Little Toaster'."- Catgurl
"The junkyard scene alone was responsible for so many nightmares."- ManChildMusician
brave little toaster animation GIF by Coolidge Corner TheatreGiphyAnd Let's Not Forget The Coachman's Smile...
"Disney’s version of 'Pinocchio'."
"The scene where kids are turned into donkeys and kept on the island and then resold was f*cking weird."
"You felt bad for that bully kid after he looked sad and nobody understood what he said because he was a donkey."- earnestlikehemingway
Few Things More Sad And Scary Than Deforestation
"'Ferngully: The Last Rainforest'."
"That evil tree scared me so bad."- slutsdotnet
Anything But "Truly Scrumptious"...
"The 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' Childcatcher guy!"
"I'm still scared of him!"- Jet_Maypen
child GIFGiphyOffing Children One By One...In A Children's Movie!
"'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory' boat scene."
"Honorable mention of claustrophobia when Augustus gets stuck in the chocolate tube."
"UGH!"- looseseal-bluth
At Least We Know He Had A "Sole"...
"Who Framed Roger Rabbit."
"That poor shoe….."- dalalice5555
At Least The Song Is Catchy...
"Neverending Story."
"Not even Artax, which was awful, but the Rockbiter and his good strong hands."- marxychick1
Neverending Story 80S GIFGiphyDorothy Gettying Electro Shock Therapy Says it All...
"Return to Oz."- Jeff_Steelflexx
"Horrifying! What about the animated wig heads?"- weensfordayz
The Reigning King Of Childhood Trauma
"Old Yeller."- IceTech59
"I remember watching this on TV during, I think, Wonderful World of Disney (Sunday nights were Disney night on TV)."
"Cried and cried and cried."
"I've never been able to watch it again and I've never shown it to my kids!"- crowwitch
Not All Friendships Are Tenable... A Terrifying Thought
"'The Fox and the Hound'."
"Still makes me incredibly sad, lol."- mental_reincarnation
best friends friendship GIFGiphySometimes, writers and filmmakers simply overestimate what might go over a child's head.
Or, for that matter, they might underestimate their emotional capacity.
Regardless, ask any of Fairuza Balk's fans which is scarier, Return to Oz or The Craft, and their answer will be immediate...
(... and it won't be The Craft...)
Sometimes it's fun to toy with someone.
Especially if it's an enemy or a loved one who simply deserves a good ribbing.
Some cryptic sentences can send anyone into a tailspin.
And oh the fun that can be had.
You have to be as vague as possible and as sincere.
You have to sell the sincerity. That's vital!
And then just watch them implode.
Redditor theary18 wanted to hear about the most creative ways to throw somebody off their game, so they asked:
"What is the best thing to say to someone to subtly f**k with their head?"
I love to come up behind someone and say "I can't believe they would treat you this way. I got you girl!"
Then I scurry away.
Tee-hee...
It's YOU!
For Me GIF by Liz HuettGiphy"Just tack on the phrase 'given your history' to any question you ask someone."
"Are you sure you want another drink? Given your history?"
"Do you mind driving? Given your history?"
hamletreset
Mean Kids...
"I moved to my elementary school in the 5th grade. Mid-year, a boy came up to me and said, 'I really thought you were gonna be somebody.' I'm now 45 and I'm still like, what the f**k was he talking about?"
NicklePlatedSkull
"Likely something they heard a parent say to someone. Kids love to repeat the dumb stuff you say the next day at school."
itsallgoodman2002
"All jokes aside he probably thought you were someone else. I've done the same things countless times and it's happened to me a few."
Download_more_ramram
"I would interpret this as this kid hearing there's gonna be a 'new kid' and then their imagination ran wild as to who this new star is going to be, that it will be like in some kid movie or something, but you turned out to be just another kid student."
i_was_planned
I Like You
"I don't get why other people don't like you."
Dependent_Main2643
"Another variant is..."
"I don’t care what everyone else is saying. I think you’re great!"
"They’ll take it as a compliment at first but then they’ll think about it and it’ll eat away at them."
Oh-Cool-Story-Bro
"A guy I work with says this time to me every time I help him 'I don’t care what everyone else says about you you’re alright. Literally everyone else. We did a poll.' XD guy says some crazy s**t. When he started he tried to convince us he was a flat earther. He just likes fucking with people."
ThreeBeatles
Rumors
“'I heard about you.'"
ignorantpigeon
"Whenever I hear this I always respond with 'if it’s all good, it’s all lies.' Usually shows my sense of humor and if it is bad things they heard it usually lightens the mood."
ElApolloLoco
"Years ago I worked at a cafe and function venue which was sold after a few years to a new catering company. The first time I met the new restaurant manager I introduced myself and she exclaimed 'Oh, you’re winoforever!' and I was a bit weirded out. Then not long later I met the new owner and she also said 'Oh, you’re winoforever!' I still wonder twenty years later what they’d both heard about me."
winoforever_slurp_
Problems
Drunk Party Girl GIFGiphy"Go up to someone at a party and say: 'I just want you to know that personally, I have no problem with you being here.'"
LuketheMook
"I once got drunk and effectively said that to a girl at a wedding. 'I don't care what everyone else thinks, I always liked you' or something like that."
Supersnazz
Parties are the perfect setting for these shenanigans.
Especially with the drinkers.
But get them at least semi-sober.
I got You
Okaay What GIF by ABC NetworkGiphy"If you are chatting with someone and another person walks up look at them and say 'I just want you to know that I was defending you' then turn and walk off. It's a good 2fer."
could_use_a_snack
Hush
"'We know, but don't worry, we'll keep it a secret.'"
ch3rrycsmos_
"A friend in high school (actually still a current friend) said something similar to me and it definitely f**ked with my head. 'You know you're not fooling anyone, right?' He wouldn't elaborate and it took me the rest of the day to figure out he was f**king with me. As a guy with imposter syndrome, especially as a teen, that had me turned for a bit."
ablackcloudupahead
You Again
"If it’s someone you interact with repeatedly, always introduce yourself as if you’ve never met before."
Stillwater215
"I keep doing this to a guy I see very occasionally. He's a friend of my sister-in-law, but I've introduced myself to him at least four times. Right now, I'm trying to picture his face and I totally can't, so if I see him again, I'll introduce myself again. He remembers me though. And I don't have this issue with anyone else, I just can't remember this guy's face for some reason."
KrtekJim
Big Mouth
"You really need to brush your teeth."
setthepinnacle
"Somebody jokingly left a message on the 'tip' line that said 'Take a breath mint.'"
"I'm like 90% sure it was just the first thing that came to his head but it f**ked with me for weeks. I was self-conscious when talking to people, being close to them with my mouth open, and I'd constantly be brushing longer/harder taking mouthwash a couple extra times a day, and using mints."
ToFaceA_god
Head Issues
Think About It GIF by IdentityGiphy"Give all your friends a few dollars to compliment their hat if they’re not wearing one. When 50 people insist you’re wearing a hat, you start to think you’re wearing a hat. It will drive them insane."
Stillwater215
Hats off for that last one. That's harmless but devious.
Do you have any tips to add? Let us know in the comments below.
