IT SEEMED LIKE A GOOD IDEA

These inventions didn’t take off, for various obvious reasons

HULA BURGER: In the 1960’s, Ray Kroc, founder of Mc Donalds, attempted to cater to the Catholic population who refrain from eating meat on Fridays for religious reasons. This burger consisted of a ring of pineapple covered with cheese. Needless to say, it didn’t go over well. He later came up with Fillet-O-Fish sandwich, a more successful meatless alternative.

BLACK FIRE, HOT ROD & DESTINY: were the names of some scents in their ‘Hot Road’ collection aimed at men, introduced by motorcycle giant Harley Davidson in 1996. No one knows, what inspired the company to introduce perfume & colognes that smelled of wood & tobacco.

FROZEN MEALS: Toothpaste manufacturer Colgate-Palmolive introduced this product in the 1980s, hat had nothing to do with toothpaste and everything to do with cuisine. It was a super flop as no one wanted to be associated with toothpaste with frozen dinners no matter what the ingredients are. The ‘Museum of failures’ in Sweden has a replica of Colgate-Palmolive frozen entrees.

READING MACHINE: The Friske Reading machine was invented in 1922, by Rear Admiral Bradley Friske, a prolific American inventor. Books printed in tiny letters could be read with magnifying glass that was modified. The invention was supposed to be better than printed books because less paper was used. It eliminated the use of reading glasses, and the device was cheaper to manufacture. His invention fizzled out, as no one wanted to hold a magnifying glass to their eyes for hours.

ELECTRIC PEN: in 1875, Thomas Alva Edison invented this unique pen for the purpose of document duplication. The pen held a motor on top, powered by wet-cell battery. The idea was to create a stencil by perforating a sheet of paper using the pen. Soon, mechanical pencils hit the market and replaced the electric pens. Later it led to the modern electric tattoo machine. In 1891, tattoo artist, Samuel F O Reilly, took Edison’s prototype and created the first electric tattoo needle,

PINTO: In the 1970s, Ford Motors sold a subcompact car that was discontinued because its fuel tank was not as strong as it should have been. The fuel tank was situated between rear axle and bumper, a standard procedure at that time. Unfortunately, a lack of structural reinforcement in the rear caused a proneness to gas leakage and the fire if the car was rear ended. The oversight led to the tank explosions, some even died from their injuries. Lawsuits followed. The Pinto was marketed from 1971 until 1980.

VIRTUAL BOY: in 1995 video game giant Nintendo, released a video game console that has not been fully tested, it took 4 years for the company to develop this game. Marketed as being capable of displaying stereoscopic 3D graphics. Not enough attention had been given to the user testing, The users began to complain of back pain and impaired vision.

VIOXX: produced by the pharmaceutical company Merck. In 1999, Vioxx (Rofecoxib), was marketed at safer substitute for other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs on the market. The drug was proven to cause an increase in strokes and heart attacks The irresponsibility shown by Merck cost the company US$ 4.85 billion in payouts.

RADITHOR: Believe it or not, there as a time radium was used for just about any product you could think of. It was promoted as being the next magical health remedy. In 1930s Ebenezer Byres, American socialite, sportsman and industrialist. sportsman began taking Radithor, medicine made from Radium and patented by William Bailey who falsely represented himself as a physician. Byers died of cancer brought on his use of this radium-based product. It was the radium that led to the cancer.

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