A post I made in a coupon thread over in CS got me thinking. I know of several brands of products that are total shit. Lousy taste, lousy electronics, whatever. I figure every Doper out there has some experience with a brand that should be avoided at all costs. Not just a bad product, but a whole brand that sucks. Let’s see what shows up.
I’ll start with Mt. Olive pickles. Every single item I have ever purchased from this company has been sub-standard at best. The pickles are either flavorless or hard as a rock or both, and the relishes are just plain vile. I find it hard to believe that anybody with taste buds ever buys more than one of their products. (Obviously I did, but that was just to see how bad they really were. Not something you can build a business model around.)
I was about to take issue with your characterization of Mt. Olive pickles when I realized I always buy Cains. Not sure why I thought I was a Mt. Olive fan.
We don’t buy Mt. Olive pickles, but I like their jalapenos for tacos and nachos and stuff.
There’s a store brand of green beans (Clear Value or something) that my wife bought a few cans of once. When I opened up the can and poured them into a pot, I found 6 stems. Every other can we bought had stems in it also. We won’t buy them again.
Crest toothpaste. My dentist gives out free samples, and so I recently used some for the first time in a couple of decades. That crap is vile, with it’s overpowering fake-mint taste and inexplicably cloying, uvula-raping texture. Straight in the trash.
Target brand housewares. Across the board the cheapest, most failure prone crap I have ever seen. They are more stylish than the Walmart equivalent, but the materials and construction quality is horrendous. I can’t believe any of these products were subjected to normal QC procedures.
Jennie-O turkey bacon. It looks like nice lean slices like other turkey bacon, and it was absolutely inedible. Threw the cooked bits and the rest in the package right into the trash.
I’m sure Toyota is a good company, but these two brands(lines) are just subpar in my experience. I can only offer anecdotal evidence(I mean, that’s all we all have), but those two brands of cars are very weak and unreliable. I think they have even had recalls.
Edge brand shaving gel is decidedly substandard when compared to the Gillette, Schick or Nivea offerings.
Personna multiblade razor cartridges suck balls. Oddly, their double-edge blades are fine though.
Texas Pete Louisiana style hot sauce is truly execrable. There are so many decent brands out there that there’s no reason to bother with that garbage. It’s neither hot, nor particularly flavorful, unless you like vinegar. I think it’s even artificially thickened.
The problem with this thread is, I’ll be at the store, see Mt. olive Pickles, and think “I’ve heard of those somewhere”, and not recall the critical “they’re bad” part.
It is? Most of the sit-down Mexican places I go to don’t even have hot sauce on the tables, and the ones that do are usually taquerias with a few tables, and they invariably have Cholula or La Victoria (Victoriana?) on the tables.
Never seen Texas Pete anywhere but a couple of funky roadside restaurants, and the bottle I bought to give it a try.
Jennings/Jimenez/Phoenix (Ring of Fire) firearms. You’d be better off throwing them than pulling the trigger.
Once upon a time, not so long ago, I might have said Hi-Point firearms as well, but I’ve seen enough to dissuade me from that. I wouldn’t buy one, but apparently they’ve improved over the years to the point where they can actually be seen as good value.
I’m content using Mt. Olives Diced Jalapenos, so I don’t have to chop a bunch myself. (Last time I did that my hands were burning for days.) I’m not saying jarred jalapenos or Mt. Olives are particularly exceptional in quality, but there’s not usually a great deal of choice for that product in these parts.
From my list of Brands I Will Not Buy:
[ul]
[li]Chock Full O’ Nuts. There is bad and then there is CFON. The worst.[/li][li]Chef Boyardee. Where pasta goes to die.[/li][li]Campbells. Would you like some chicken with your salt bath? Wait…that’s chicken?![/li][li]Wonder Bread. I wonder why they stripped out all the nutrients only to put them back in? There’s a reason people use the term ‘white bread’ to denote something plain, homogenized and unappealing and it has nothing to do with sourdough.[/li][li]Grippo’s and Mikesells. Regional potato chip brands. Grippo’s is supposed to be known for their BBQ, but I’ve found both brands to consistently taste stale, despite the fact the locals rave about both. Misplaced local pride, if you ask me.[/li][/ul]
Cheap, flimsy cars. Every Chevy I’ve ever driven felt ready to fly apart at any moment.
A local dealer had some cars on display at a July 4th festival, and I went for a closer look at the new Camaro. IMO, they look awesome, and I wondered if maybe, being a muscle car and all, they build them to a higher standard than their other models. I placed my hands on the door to lean forward and look inside, and felt the interior door panel wobbling loose under my fingertips. Pure crap.
ETA: I’m not a car snob. I drive a low-end Dodge, nothing fancy. But the door panels stay put and it’s a dependable, solidly built car. That’s all most people want and Chevy doesn’t deliver it.
