i love my zune, and it still works and sounds fantastic....
FedX ZAPP Mail.
I think the main reason for the Edsel’s failure was the weird grill. Just too unusual.
Coming to the list soon - driverless cars.....
Shake weight.
Pepsi clear.
Any Detroit Lions team after 1957.
CC
Budweiser copper. I’ve had microbrews aged in whiskey barrels before that tasted good. This crap tasted like they dissolved pennies in old bud light.
CC
C’mon folks, I can’t run this thread by myself!
Socialism
Beta vs. VHS.
Ping
Also, 2019 Washington Nationals.
Ford ruined the Explorer, it’s like a glorified Escape now. Ford also stopped selling the Ranger pick up truck in the US a few years ago. Toyota benefited from that decision.
I would say that weight loss pill(can’t even think of the name).
Was supposed to be the next best thing, but turned out it only gave people the runs.
And as is often the case, what is 'common knowledge' is wrong in almost every respect. I've told this story before here, but I was working for the market research company that did all the phone surveys for Coca-Cola at the time. Prior to the release of 'New Coke', we did an extensive series of surveys nationwide to quantify attitudes, usage, and other related information useful from a marketing perspective. Once the baseline was established, we did another series asking about subjective taste-related information, like 'would you prefer more or less sweetness', and similar questions about carbonation and other stuff.
Then New Coke was released, and the sh!tstorm hit nationwide. The entire time we were running attitude studies to see what people thought. I know for a fact that there were at least 6 different formulations that were out there in different regions that they were testing. New Coke wasn't the same everywhere. Eventually, as time passed it got to the point that we pretty much knew that there wasn't any Old Coke available nationwide, and the surveys were really interesting. You'd ask what folks thought about New Coke, and how they'd compare it to other soft drinks. The overwhelming response was that folks hated New Coke, yet in those same surveys we were seeing that people were still buying it. The exact same folks panning New Coke still had it in their homes, apparently out of habit more than anything else.
I'll never forget the surveys that they ran when they were ready to reintroduce 'Coca-Cola Classic', (which was a lie btw, since they changed from sugar to HFCS). We had this big, long, and confusing paragraph (which I really wish I'd kept a copy of, in hindsight), asking about what Coke should be called. What was really funny was after you were done with that paragraph, they required you to say "I know that might have been a little confusing, so let me read that again", and then you'd have to go through the entire thing again! If the respondent wouldn't let you do that, it was not considered a completed survey. It was frustrating for interviewers and respondents alike.
So, they eventually brought out Coca-Cola Classic, and most folks were happy. The company reaped billions of dollars in free advertising from all the controversy. Then, after everything was settled down, the bottom line was clear. They ultimately gained a 6% bump in market share from the whole thing. Six percent of the soft drink market is no small chunk of change. I can hardly call something like that a 'failure'. But then again, what do I know? I'm glad I was able to watch the whole thing from the level I did. It was interesting, to say the least.