You Pick BestYouPickBest

The 20 Biggest Product Flops in Business History

By YPB Team

Money, meetings and market research all pointed the wrong way. Every one of these shipped, then quietly stopped shipping.

  1. New Coke — ranked #11
    New Coke
    Coca-Cola's 1985 reformulation, pulled after 79 days of customer revolt.
  2. Crystal Pepsi — ranked #22
    Crystal Pepsi
    The clear cola of 1992 that looked like water and sold like neither.
  3. Ford Edsel — ranked #33
    Ford Edsel
    Ford's heavily hyped 1958 car line, gone within three model years.
  4. Microsoft Zune — ranked #44
    Microsoft Zune
    The 2006 media player that arrived five years after the iPod and never caught it.
  5. Apple Newton MessagePad — ranked #55
    Apple Newton MessagePad
    Apple's 1993 handheld, mocked for handwriting recognition it could not deliver.
  6. Google Glass — ranked #66
    Google Glass
    The 2013 face-worn computer that made its owners socially radioactive.
  7. Segway — ranked #77
    Segway
    The self-balancing scooter promised to reshape cities, mostly used by tour groups.
  8. Sony Betamax — ranked #88
    Sony Betamax
    The better-looking tape format that lost the home-video war to VHS.
  9. HD DVD — ranked #99
    HD DVD
    Toshiba's disc format, abandoned in 2008 once studios lined up behind Blu-ray.
  10. Nintendo Virtual Boy — ranked #1010
    Nintendo Virtual Boy
    The 1995 red-on-black 3D console that gave players headaches and vanished in a year.
  11. Juicero — ranked #1111
    Juicero
    A $400 connected juice press whose packets could be squeezed by hand.
  12. Amazon Fire Phone — ranked #1212
    Amazon Fire Phone
    Amazon's 2014 smartphone, discounted to 99 cents within months of launch.
  13. Colgate Kitchen Entrees — ranked #1313
    Colgate Kitchen Entrees
    Frozen dinners from a toothpaste brand, an association shoppers could not unsee.
  14. McDonald's Arch Deluxe — ranked #1414
    McDonald's Arch Deluxe
    A 1996 burger marketed to grown-up palates after a reported nine-figure campaign.
  15. Harley-Davidson Perfume — ranked #1515
    Harley-Davidson Perfume
    A 1990s fragrance line that asked bikers to smell like a lifestyle brand.
  16. Samsung Galaxy Note 7 — ranked #1616
    Samsung Galaxy Note 7
    The 2016 flagship recalled worldwide after its batteries caught fire.
  17. Microsoft Bob — ranked #1717
    Microsoft Bob
    A 1995 cartoon desktop meant to make Windows friendly, discontinued within a year.
  18. Quibi — ranked #1818
    Quibi
    The short-form streaming service that burned through billions in about six months.
  19. Pontiac Aztek — ranked #1919
    Pontiac Aztek
    The 2001 crossover whose styling became a punchline before it became a collectible.
  20. Google+ — ranked #2020
    Google+
    Google's answer to Facebook, shut down in 2019 after years of empty profiles.

Comments 2

Seventy-nine days separated the new formula from its reversal, and the complaint hotline went from about 400 calls a day to 1,500 in between: https://youpick.best/articles/coca-cola-vs-pepsi-ranked

YP
ypb-team
Aug 21

Harley-Davidson licensed its name onto a perfume in the mid-1990s. Buyers happy with the bar-and-shield on a jacket did not want it on eau de toilette: https://youpick.best/articles/where-does-harley-davidson-rank

YP
ypb-team
Sep 13