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Launching a new business or announcing a big idea is always a gamble. As hard as companies try, they can’t always predict exactly how the public will respond. But even when ideas flop, they can never be forgotten...

Redditors have recently been discussing the most hyped up ideas that ended up being huge failures, so we’ve gathered some of their spot-on responses below. From streaming platforms to modes of transportation, have fun taking a scroll through this memory lane of unfortunate ideas, and be sure to upvote the flops you find most amusing!

#1

“Fyre Festival”: 30 Things That Were Massively Hyped But Turned Out To Be Huge Flops So far, the Twitter acquisition and rebranding. An exceptionally expensive act of ego.

cbelt3 , wikipedia.org Report

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Bernd Herbert
Community Member
11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

One of the dumbest marketing examples in history. You got a strong brand, even so, that your brand name became a verb in multiple languages. (we say twittern in German!) Something other companies dream about and then you change the brand name. That is probably on the top of the dumbest decisions scale!

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    #2

    Elon Musk. Turns out he's a moron.

    duderonomy12 Report

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    Multa Nocte
    Community Member
    11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    What's sad is that all it would have taken was for people to genuinely listen to him for several minutes. He has never hidden his over-sized ego and under-sized talents.

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    #3

    “Fyre Festival”: 30 Things That Were Massively Hyped But Turned Out To Be Huge Flops NFTs

    justaquietboy , [deleted] Report

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    Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa)
    Community Member
    11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    A scam from day one. Like buying a square foot of land in Scotland so you can declare yourself a Laird.

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    #4

    Brexit. Absolute shitshow.

    Many-Miles Report

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    James016
    Community Member
    11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Still waiting for those mythical Brexit benefits. Come on Mogg, where are they?

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    #5

    “Fyre Festival”: 30 Things That Were Massively Hyped But Turned Out To Be Huge Flops Zuckerberg's weird avatar world.

    WalksinClouds Report

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    Libstak
    Community Member
    11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Dude thought peeps would buy fake clothes, food, drink, everything for a fake human and live a fake life there instead of actually living a real life. The % of the population who would do this is in single digits Max.

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    #6

    “Fyre Festival”: 30 Things That Were Massively Hyped But Turned Out To Be Huge Flops I’m showing my age, but the Geraldo Rivera special with Al Capone’s mysterious vault, which turned out to hold—nothing.

    Dimeadozen21 , https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0435702/?ref_=tt_mv_close Report

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    Zaphod
    Community Member
    11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I watched that. I think they found a couple of empty bottles.

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    #7

    “Fyre Festival”: 30 Things That Were Massively Hyped But Turned Out To Be Huge Flops For those old enough to remember: Segway was *MASSIVELY* hyped for months. It was meant to change modern mobility *forever*.

    When they finally showed off that goofy thing, it basically became a proto-meme in the early internet era.

    DisasterEquivalent , wikipedia.org Report

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    Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa)
    Community Member
    11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Hold up OP, memes were already well established and the internet was two decades old when Segway debuted.

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    #8

    “Fyre Festival”: 30 Things That Were Massively Hyped But Turned Out To Be Huge Flops Games of Thrones the final season

    mystandtrist , Home Box Office (HBO) Report

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    Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa)
    Community Member
    11 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    They ran ahead of the books and that's what happened. You just have to read the books as fast as Martin writes them. I still haven't finished Dance of Dragons. But I've read about fifty books since I started it.

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    #9

    “Fyre Festival”: 30 Things That Were Massively Hyped But Turned Out To Be Huge Flops Adulthood

    That-Statistician747 , Ketut Subiyanto Report

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    Verena
    Community Member
    11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Highly overrated. Yes, you can spend all your money at the sweet shop or pizzeria and game the whole day and no one complains ... but you won't, because rent, food, transport has to be paid too, and the household chores and work are waiting for you. So many duties and it never ends...

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    #10

    “Fyre Festival”: 30 Things That Were Massively Hyped But Turned Out To Be Huge Flops The Panama Papers.

    Honestly, I'm still pissed nothing came of it.

    Moofypoops , Pixabay Report

    #11

    “Fyre Festival”: 30 Things That Were Massively Hyped But Turned Out To Be Huge Flops Kim Kardashian's break the internet picture.


    They were weird.


    https://www.papermag.com/break-the-internet-kim-kardashian-cover

    Kemintiri , papermag Report

    #12

    “Fyre Festival”: 30 Things That Were Massively Hyped But Turned Out To Be Huge Flops 3d Televisions were presented as the next huge thing. There was a massive amount of hype being able to watch 3d movies and games from the comfort of your living room. It flopped when it launched due to the televisions being ridiculously expensive and the technology not being there during the era and being gimmicky once the appeal wore off for the people that bought them.

    DMMEPANCAKES , cottonbro studio Report

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    Ace
    Community Member
    11 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    It wasn't the cost that flopped it. 3D movies have been around for over a hundred years, but each time new technology has been used to do it they hype has always been greater than the reality and each time they have eventually flopped. Why? Because I don't want to have to wear your stupid glasses that stop me seeing properly, that's why.

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    #14

    “Fyre Festival”: 30 Things That Were Massively Hyped But Turned Out To Be Huge Flops Google Glass was a huge deal when it was announced, and it was a real pioneer in the augmented reality category. It didn't sell all that well though, probably because it was expensive, around $1,500 if I remember right, and I don't reckon people found it very fashionable.

    Vexitar , wikipedia.org Report

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    Jrog
    Community Member
    11 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    They still exist in niche applications, and have been quietly evolving for the last years. In 2023 Luxottica's RayBan launched a line of AR-equipped glasses developed from Google Glass patents. Google glass was a technology demonstrator, never meant to be "fashionable"; the tech is now slowly creeping into the mass market.

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    #16

    “Fyre Festival”: 30 Things That Were Massively Hyped But Turned Out To Be Huge Flops what was that google social media with circles, google plus?

    OldMork , wikipedia.org Report

    #17

    “Fyre Festival”: 30 Things That Were Massively Hyped But Turned Out To Be Huge Flops Target in Canada!

    Heard so many people addicted to the store in the US, everyone was excited to have it here, but it flopped, stores opened being half empty, more expensive then the stores they replaced, limited selections… they only lasted a few years

    RealityISnotOk123123 , wikipedia.org Report

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    Verena
    Community Member
    11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Walmart in Germany... However, the Wendy's in the Netherlands (and Belgium and Luxemburg) is a success, main reason is the fact that it is a local fastfood-chain that existed before the US one expanded towards Europe. The US company tried and tries their luck at court over and over again to claim name rights, and every time they loose. Btw: Wendy is the name of the daughter of the Dutch founder. And a German horse magazine for teens bears that name, too.

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    #19

    Beanie Babies - a masterclass in hyping up something that’s worth peanuts!

    JustEm84 Report

    #20

    “Fyre Festival”: 30 Things That Were Massively Hyped But Turned Out To Be Huge Flops Curved TVs

    londoner4life , Kārlis Dambrāns Report

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    Francois
    Community Member
    11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I love my curved monitor, but at least you sit straight in front of it unlike in front of a TV.

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    #21

    “Fyre Festival”: 30 Things That Were Massively Hyped But Turned Out To Be Huge Flops Killer/Africanized Bees. Lots of fear mongering over those in the 80s, over a lot of nothing.

    temporary311 , wikipedia.org Report

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    Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa)
    Community Member
    11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Don't forget the "Murder Hornets" of 2019/2020. American news media loves fear mongering.

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    #23

    The end of the world in 2012

    nikki_225 Report

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    Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa)
    Community Member
    11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    And 2005, and 2000, and 1998, and 1995, and 1991, and 1988, and 1984, and 1980, and 1976. Do you see how this works?

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    #24

    “Fyre Festival”: 30 Things That Were Massively Hyped But Turned Out To Be Huge Flops Quibi - $1.75 billion blown in six months on a streaming service no one wanted.

    iCowboy , wikipedia.org Report

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    #25

    “Fyre Festival”: 30 Things That Were Massively Hyped But Turned Out To Be Huge Flops Before it became a punchline people were worried that Battlefield Earth would be a dangerously effective recruiting tool for Scientology.

    12345_PIZZA , Warner Bros. Report

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    Bernd Herbert
    Community Member
    11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    This movie f*****g sucks. And Scientology is ridiculous! Can't believe people still fall for that bad science fiction story! If you haven't heard of it, please read about the Galactic Overlord Xenu, who bombed the Earth with Hydrogen Bombs. Why Scientologists aren't laughed at constantly is beyond me.

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    #26

    “Fyre Festival”: 30 Things That Were Massively Hyped But Turned Out To Be Huge Flops The American version of "Coupling", which was being hyped as the next big NBC sitcom after "Friends" went off the air. When cast members were doing interviews to promote it, they were so assured that it would be a success that they were already talking about multiple seasons.

    It was cancelled after four episodes.

    StoolToad9 , NBC Studios Report

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    Emma S
    Community Member
    11 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    American remakes of British comedy shows rarely work because the sense of humours are different. The Office and Shameless are rare exceptions because they adapted for American audiences. It should have come as a surprise to no-one that US versions of The Inbetweeners, the IT crowd, Absolutely Fabulous, Men Behaving Badly or Gavin and Stacey flopped.

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    #27

    Scooter sharing. Raised millions for a bunch of companies to dump those scooters on our streets, then in a matter of time, cities and towns started to either ban or regulate them, and there's very few survivors. For the price to ride a scooter, it's way cheaper to pay to ride the bus.

    GrumpyBachelorSF Report

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    quentariel
    Community Member
    11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Oh, I didn't know that the scooter system didn't work so well elsewhere, here in Finland it's been a great succeess in bigger cities. (except they are gathered away in the winter). They cost about the same as a bus ticket, a bit more if you drive long, but they offer flexibility the busses can't. And this is even greater achievement, because busses here work extremely well.

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    #28

    New Coke.

    Yeuh78 Report

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    Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa)
    Community Member
    11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The end result is you need to buy Coca-Cola from Mexico if you want to drink "real" Coca-Cola because the Coca-Cola "Classic" sold in most places is using high fructose corn syrup instead of cane sugar.

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    #29

    “Fyre Festival”: 30 Things That Were Massively Hyped But Turned Out To Be Huge Flops Your special uniqueness as a child

    citrusjuicebox , jonas mohamadi Report

    #30

    “Fyre Festival”: 30 Things That Were Massively Hyped But Turned Out To Be Huge Flops [Dan & Dave](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_%26_Dave) was an advertising and merchandising campaign by American shoe manufacturer Reebok during the build-up to the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. The promotion was meant to generate excitement and support for the Olympic competition between American decathletes Dan O'Brien and Dave Johnson. *However, the campaign had to be modified when O'Brien failed to qualify for the Olympics.*

    brktm , Karolina Grabowska Report

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    #31

    The American education system

    UpstateBaller23 Report

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    Nimues Child
    Community Member
    11 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    It depends upon the state and town/city where you live. I live in a state that values education and believes in teaching critical thinking. Where that is not true, you end up with some educational horror shows.

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    #32

    “Fyre Festival”: 30 Things That Were Massively Hyped But Turned Out To Be Huge Flops Laser discs and mini discs.

    Laser discs were the same size and vinyl records (33 1/3 size), but the compact disc came along and could hold the same information but was considerably smaller.

    The Mini-discs were suppose to be the next evolution, but that required a player that was not possible to make at the some (components were not possible or reliable for that size). Also, it may have been too soon after the Compact Discs came out.

    Randoid642 , Rae Allen Report

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    Robin
    Community Member
    11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I loved my mini-disk player. I got one the ones you could record to, and make mix disks and copied CDs to them. Was smaller didn't skip and battery lasted longer. Was gutted when I lost it.

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    #33

    Millennial retirement

    daddysdeepfake Report

    #35

    “Fyre Festival”: 30 Things That Were Massively Hyped But Turned Out To Be Huge Flops Starfield

    error-50507 , SPD Gaming Report

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    Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa)
    Community Member
    11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Well, it is a Bethesda game. What did people expect? It's an Elder Scrolls game in space.

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    #36

    Theranos.

    egg_bronte Report

    #37

    Crystal Pepsi

    DarkPasta Report

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    La Lucy
    Community Member
    11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    In college 7 and Crystal Pepsi was my go to drink. Still miss it! 7 and 7 is not the same.

    #39

    “Fyre Festival”: 30 Things That Were Massively Hyped But Turned Out To Be Huge Flops Windows Millenium Edition

    Insufficient_data21 , wikipedia.org Report

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    Jrog
    Community Member
    11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    It was not really hyped at all, though. It was designed as a temporary plug for the marked gap in the consumer niche between the aging Win98 and the professionally-oriented NT-based Win2000, while XP was being developed. Being a "bridge" release, it received very little hype and promotion: it was sold practically only through new hardware sales, and at the time ME came out Microsoft was still actively pushing and supporting Win98, switching directly to XP less than an year. Also, it was not a bad OS: it was an updated W98 (and ultimately, most features trickled down to the more widespread W98 through updates), the last of the W9x architecture and could run on cheap PCs without many issues, while being compatible with the newest protocols and hardware.

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    #40

    The Zune

    SpillinThaTea Report

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    Wisco_MKE
    Community Member
    11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I had a Zune and loved it. It was cheaper than an iPod and better than other cheaper mp3 players. I used mine until it finally broke.

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    #41

    “Fyre Festival”: 30 Things That Were Massively Hyped But Turned Out To Be Huge Flops Y2K

    shockencock , cottonbro studio Report

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    Jrog
    Community Member
    11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Y2K came to be a big nothing only because the whole IT world took notice well in advance and worked to fix anything important before the big date. Saying it was "overhyped" means disrespecting million of people who put lot of effort in mitigating the disaster with great success.

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    #42

    Smell-O-Vision. Nickelodeon had a field day with it in 2002.

    NerdSlamPo Report

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    #43

    “Fyre Festival”: 30 Things That Were Massively Hyped But Turned Out To Be Huge Flops Virtual Reality in general, it pops up every once in a while with some cool feature that in the end is just a flash in the pan because while cool, it has no practical use.

    crlarkin , fauxels Report

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    Tam StaR
    Community Member
    11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I use VR often, but for the experience and to play games. Was good for meetings during covid, but now, it's strictly for fun.

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    #45

    The Many Saints of Newark. I was so excited and left so disappointed.
    Whatever happened there...

    djorion87 Report

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    #46

    The Mueller Report

    SeoulOnIce Report

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    Sugar Shack
    Community Member
    11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The thing is, we've never seen it in it's entirety as Bill Barr buried it...

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    #47

    Damn Aaron Rodgers going to the Jets after so long in Green Bay. I'm still in disbelief. C'mon man!

    ECUTrent Report

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    Wisco_MKE
    Community Member
    11 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Being a Packers fan, I say: Thank you for your many years of service and excellent play, but you're New York's problem now.

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