# Most ridiculous brand extension **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 15, 2019, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-brand-extension/831163 "2019-03-15T02:29:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![BlueInfinity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BlueInfinity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlueInfinity)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2019, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-brand-extension/831163/61 "2019-03-18T10:41:55Z")
I top trump you with [Colgate frozen food](https://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/08/15/the-failure-awards-defunct-branding-1-colgate-beef-lasagne). ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2019, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-brand-extension/831163/62 "2019-03-18T11:02:41Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > Coke (and Pepsi for that matter) with cherry coke, vanilla coke, lemon coke, lime coke and perhaps some other oddballs. Not that any one was really that good, but carried the coke name, so get placement. I was always under the impression that these were targeted to Boomers, who used to get their drinks at soda fountains, where the jerk would add an extra pump of cherry/vanilla/whatever to the Coke when it was ordered. Because soda fountains disappeared sometime before I was born, the only way for them to get a Cherry Coke was for Coca Cola to make it for them. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2019, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-brand-extension/831163/63 "2019-03-18T13:50:29Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > The manager they brought in was even worse; obviously her way of fixing problems in the furniture factory was to find anyone who wasn’t doing anything and yell at and threaten them. This… may have worked there (though I bet they hated her too), but when someone’s sole job is to give public talks and there are no members of the public in the centre, it doesn’t. > She yelled at staff for ‘Not talking to visitors’ in front of the visitors who had just told said staff member that thanks, but they’re happy looking, or in extreme cases, spoke no English. When faced with the only visitors being German, she once demanded I ‘follow them round and point at things’. I was also yelled at for not giving a talk to a totally empty room, because the talk was on the timetable, so it had to happen; me being present in case anyone showed was not acceptable, I had to _talk_ dammit, and she’d hide behind doors to check everyone did. Especially hilarious when a visitor did walk in halfway through… Man, that’s sounding like a classic OP in Not Always Right where at least a third of the posts are about incompetent managers, not just the public. I’d bet the day you bailed was one of the happiest in your life. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2019, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-brand-extension/831163/64 "2019-03-18T15:11:16Z")
> [@BlueInfinity](#): > > I top trump you with [Colgate frozen food](https://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/08/15/the-failure-awards-defunct-branding-1-colgate-beef-lasagne). While flavored peanut butter isn’t really a “ridiculous” brand extension (no matter how botched), this is truly a stupid brand extension. You may have won this thread. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2019, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-brand-extension/831163/65 "2019-03-18T16:55:50Z")
> [@BlueInfinity](#): > > I top trump you with [Colgate frozen food](https://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/08/15/the-failure-awards-defunct-branding-1-colgate-beef-lasagne). That bring to mind Gerber’s failed attempt to market to college students and adults living on their own for the first time: Gerber Singles. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerber\_Singles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerber_Singles) ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2019, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-brand-extension/831163/66 "2019-03-18T17:24:17Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > Head & Shoulders Snack Crackers > > Now THAT would be a ridiculous brand extension. They’re light and flaky, to be sure. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2019, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-brand-extension/831163/67 "2019-03-18T17:31:13Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > There was this beverage, years ago, named after the part of a blade that fits inside the handle. They started out with the orange flavor and marketed it using astronauts. Then they added grape and grapefruit flavors. I think the orange flavor is still around, but the others are long gone. > > (For some reason, when I was a teenager, I would buy the grape flavor and eat the powder right out of the jar. I did not like the grape beverage, but the powder was addictive) They proposed a dried plum flavor, but no one wanted to even try powdered Prune Tang. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2019, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-brand-extension/831163/68 "2019-03-18T17:33:10Z")
To your room. _NOW!_ ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2019, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-brand-extension/831163/69 "2019-03-18T17:45:03Z")
> [@BlueInfinity](#): > > I top trump you with [Colgate frozen food](https://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/08/15/the-failure-awards-defunct-branding-1-colgate-beef-lasagne). Sounds fake to me. From your own cite: > [@](#): > > Colgate Kitchen Entrees do not feature in Colgate’s summary of its impressive 200 year history. So why is that? Is Colgate too embarrassed by its fanciful foray into food or is this perhaps just another fake news story which has managed to fool the media and marketing industry for years? > > Colgate Kitchen Entrees are certainly frequently cited as a text book example of how brand extensions can fail. I have my views – but let’s not allow the truth to stand in the way of a good story! > > It would be great if Colgate was to clarify once and for all, though… > > In the meantime, Colgate Kitchen Entrees remains one on The Museum of Failure’s most popular exhibits - even though the Museum exercised more than a little artistic licence in its depiction of a Colgate frozen Lasagne – with the white sauce oozing out so deliciously reminiscent of toothpaste… Yum Yum - tongue tinglingly tasty! They outright admit to lying about the lasagne, and imply they’re lying about the whole thing. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2019, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-brand-extension/831163/70 "2019-03-18T17:47:37Z")
Here’s a 2013 link about the Colgate foods: [https://supplier.community/the-consumer-graveyard-colgate-meals/](https://supplier.community/the-consumer-graveyard-colgate-meals/) 2014: > **[6 Hilarious Food And Drink Product Fails](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/6-hilarious-food-and-drin_b_5055465?utm_hp_ref=food)** > > While the brand extensions we'll be taking a look at today might have made sense to some exhausted brand development executive somewhere, they certainly weren't hits with the general public. So the Colgate foods appear to be real. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2019, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-brand-extension/831163/71 "2019-03-18T18:03:16Z")
Food products have cross-branded with alcoholic beverages since forever…I don’t think that’s really all that ridiculous. What is ridiculous, is Rock-Ola, a jukebox company, producing M1 Carbines for World War II. I’m pretty sure IBM made them too, but a jukebox company is somehow more ridiculous. Thousands of guys were probably killed with those things! ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2019, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-brand-extension/831163/72 "2019-03-18T18:08:44Z")
> [@Lamoral](#): > > Food products have cross-branded with alcoholic beverages since forever…I don’t think that’s really all that ridiculous. > > What is ridiculous, is Rock-Ola, a jukebox company, producing M1 Carbines for World War II. I’m pretty sure IBM made them too, but a jukebox company is somehow more ridiculous. Thousands of guys were probably killed with those things! Even worse was the coin slot in the stock. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2019, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-brand-extension/831163/73 "2019-03-18T18:10:45Z")
I don’t think that was ridiculous. During WWII, _many_ factories were retooled to make war materiel (planes, tanks, guns, etc.). ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2019, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-brand-extension/831163/74 "2019-03-18T19:11:34Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > I never understood why an Umbrella company would get into the business of making zombies. Wasn’t the whole thing part of a plan by the owner of the company gone horribly wrong?. I don’t think they were in business very long either. ---
**Author:** ![Rough\_Draft](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@Rough\_Draft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rough_Draft)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2019, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-brand-extension/831163/75 "2019-03-18T20:56:24Z")
I used to think it was really weird when kitchen appliances with the Black & Decker brand started showing up, but somewhere along the way I guess I got used to it. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2019, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-brand-extension/831163/76 "2019-03-18T21:12:32Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I don’t think that was ridiculous. During WWII, _many_ factories were retooled to make war materiel (planes, tanks, guns, etc.). Yeah, I don’t think that I’d count those as “brand extensions” in the usual sense. As you note, a lot of different companies had their factories converted to making war materiel – I used to work for Helene Curtis (a manufacturer of haircare products), and during WWII, the company’s production lines were converted away from making hair products, and were used for making airplane gun turrets and radar equipment. I don’t think that any of that was branded “National Mineral Company” (the company’s name at that time). Now, if Rock-Ola had introduced a brand of rifles under their brand name (“you love our jukeboxes, now try our guns!”), then _that_ would be silly. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2019, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-brand-extension/831163/77 "2019-03-18T22:16:43Z")
I’m surprised no one’s mentioned the fiasco of the AMF era Harley Davidsons. A company that manufactures bowling equipment is sure to be able to master motorcycles.:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2019, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-brand-extension/831163/78 "2019-03-18T23:25:25Z")
> [@swampspruce](#): > > I’m surprised no one’s mentioned the fiasco of the AMF era Harley Davidsons. A company that manufactures bowling equipment is sure to be able to master motorcycles.:rolleyes: I don’t consider that a brand extension, though (not unless AMF was re-branding the Harleys as “AMF Motorcycles”). That’s an example of a conglomerate, which was a common corporate strategy in the 1970s and 1980s, in which parent corporations tried to broaden their portfolios (and hedge against a downturn in any particular industry) by owning companies in an array of disparate industries. It also led to such weirdness as General Mills owning Parker Brothers Games and Lionel Trains, Quaker Oats owning Fisher-Price Toys and JoS. A. Bank Clothiers, and Sara Lee owning Coach bags. It’s not a common strategy now, in large part because companies realized that they were unlikely to be able to intelligently manage disparate divisions (such as a maker of bowling equipment being terrible at managing a motorcycle company). ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-brand-extension/831163/79 "2019-03-19T13:43:27Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I don’t think that was ridiculous. During WWII, _many_ factories were retooled to make war materiel (planes, tanks, guns, etc.). Union Switch & Signal made M1911A1s for a short time until the War Production Board decided it was better if they went back to making bits for railroads. Being a train nut I’ve wanted to get one [but…](https://www.gunbroker.com/item/799973006) Remington Rand produced them by the [metric buttload](http://www.coolgunsite.com/images/rem%20rands%20group/remrandstory.htm) but I thought that was a waste of a good tie-in; they should have made Tommy guns as well – Chicago typewriter. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-brand-extension/831163/80 "2019-03-19T16:54:16Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > The primary mirror for the Hubble telescope was made by Perkin-Elmer, which was, at the time, owned by Hughes Aircraft, which was in turn owned by General Motors. So one joke was the mirror was made by a company whose main products included mirrors with, “Warning: Objects in mirror are closer than they appear” (referring of course to the side view mirrors in GM vehicles). Still, the original assertion is not far off. The same company ([approximately](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_Aerospace_%26_Technologies)) makes canning jars and [entire satellites](http://www.ball.com/aerospace/programs/jpss-1) (as well as associated scientific instruments). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-brand-extension/831163.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-brand-extension/831163.md?page=5)