Lazlo Toth did this frequently and compiled a couple of books of his letters.
I think my favorite was his suggestion for a US canal after the US gave the Panamanians their canal back. He had a map of the US and drew a line with a ruler connecting what looked to be the shortest distance across the US without going into a foreign country, a straight shot from California to Texas. He actually got an answer.
I suggested that a local pizza company add red bell peppers to thier list of options and they did.
I’ve done this a few times. I usually enclosed a few pictures. I usually get nice emails back . Suggestions to improve websites ( mostly how to reach the company) have been implemented about three times.
I emailed a detergent company that their paper labels on the bottle started peeling and sagging. It could have been coincidence, but they switched to plastic labels a year later.
I also emailed a brand of bike taillights that the screws they provided were too short. I got a very friendly explaining letter from them, and a free set.
Double Feature?
If so, what movies? (Heck, if not, what movies?)
I emailed Reese’s to suggest they quit misspelling “poppable” in their TV ads, and they didn’t even send me any candy to assuage the emotional pain they’ve caused me.
“Miracle Body” is the same company who makes Miracle Suits, a type of swimsuit designed to be flaw-concealing and flattering for chubby women.
Miracle Body makes some very nice tops for us plumper women, but unfortunately some of them are kind of low-cut. I emailed them and suggested that since their target demographic was chubby/older women, they might want to dial back the low decolletage. We are not the group who wants to go around exposing our cleavage.
I received a nice email back thanking me for their feedback, and assuring me that they’ll take this into consideration for future design.
Double Murder, actually, all about horror movies. heh. The movies I suggested were High Tension, which they’d mentioned several times while reviewing other movies, and Intensity, a TV movie based on the Dean Koontz book. The link is that the later movie, High Tension, basically rips off half of the plot of Intensity. It was a minor controversy at the time, and people wondered why Koontz didn’t sue.
Cool!
I was curious because Double Feature podcast specifically shies away from accepting suggestions.
The IMDB message boards have a bit of discussion for High Tension, including the Koontz lawsuit absence and “the twist”.
I sent Nair a suggestion to create a product to remove ear hair.
I even told them “look, I’m going to keep doing it anyway because it works so well. You may as well make it official.”
I didn’t even get a “Don’t do that!” reply.
I made a batch of Betty Crocker brownies once that, although following the directions precisely, came out as hard as rocks. I called their 1-800 number, said what happened, and asked what might be the cause. They apologized and sent a bunch of coupons for free boxes.
Then about six months later, looking at a new box, I noticed they reduced their baking time by about five minutes. With brownies, that five minutes might be the difference between “done” and “burnt”. I like to think that my call helped.
If by “sent ideas to companies” you mean “yelling at the TV when a terrible commercial is on”, then yes. I send them ideas all the time.
I sent a request to my local warehouse club type market to carry a particular product. Got a reply back that they would definitely be ordering the item. Months have passed and no joy.
I sent a complaint to the US State Department about inconsistencies in instructions for renewing US passports at overseas locations. Despite the official instructions saying you can pay the fees in US or local currency or by credit card our local office would not accept any of those. They did add a note to their website that for overseas renewals the local office sets the rules on payments. Not exactly the change I was hoping for.
I’ve written many companies and am a big fan of Lazlo Toth. 
Yes, and I usually just get a noncommittal letter thanking me for my feedback. Once in a blue moon I get a low-value coupon for whatever it is they sell. The only time a business took my advice was when Vermont artist Woody Jackson took my idea for a T-shirt with two identical cows with the caption “Moo / Deja Moo.” And he ran with it! Got a nice thank-you note from him but no money (not that I’d asked for any).
Way back when I was a human guinea pig, I was in a study of some blood pressure medicine. Part of the fun was wearing a portable heart monitor/recorder for two hours while going about my (limited) business. We’d eat a meal, take a pill, wear the monitor for two hours, take off the monitor, and do whatever until the next meal – never leaving the clinic office for three days. :dubious:
Before our meals, the research technicians kept attaching the wires to the EKG patches incorrectly. Apparently the dark red and light brown wires looked close enough and didn’t exactly correspond to the little spring-loaded tabs where they were supposed to be inserted, and the doctor on duty kept having to reverse peoples’ leg connections lest the monitor think we were pumping blood backward or something. :eek:
So I wrote to the manufacturer of the device suggesting they bundle the wires at one end and send them through a D-sub connector or something else that was non-symetrical so the connections couldn’t get messed up. It seemed like a pretty obvious solution to me! 
I have no idea if the idea was adopted. I haven’t done any more studies since then.
–G!
Sometimes when I send a suggestion to a software company, I’ll actually write it up with a use case. I wonder if they appreciate that. Having worked in IT for close to 30 years now in all aspects of the industry, I’ve seen how incomprehensible customer feedback/complaints can be. However, none of them have ever thanked me for doing that. Ungrateful. :dubious:
Some companies explicitly ask you to NOT send suggestions.
Apple gained a little bit of notoriety about this years ago.
Apple’s current policy.
I sent NJ Transit an e-mail suggesting they schedule extra trains between between 11 pm and 12 am on Friday and Saturday because most Broadway shows end between 10:30 and 11. I was at a show and had to leave a few minutes early to avoid an hour wait in the train station (I had seen the show a few times before so it wasn’t the end of the world but the previous times had been matinees). It made no difference but I felt better 
We have a brewery in Denver called Spangalang. I suggested they brew a beer named Black Betty.
I have yet to hear back from them.
When Taco Bell came out with Doritos flavored tacos, Nacho Cheese and Ranch, I suggested a third Doritos chip flavor they never followed up on-Taco. I thought Doritos Taco flavored tacos would have been a natural!