I don’t think many of these “obviously fake products” would fool me. But it’s almost embarrassing how hard I laughed at some of these. After enjoying the thread, what fake product can you come up with?
In the 00s, a drug company marketed a chewable birth control pill, whose design was intended to make taking it more convenient. I do get that, BUT there were a few satirical stories about it being marketed to young children. ISTR that The Onion had a story about this, and sexually active pre-teens, but I couldn’t find the link when I looked just now.
Even before Viagra etc. hit the market, there were jokes about drugs with names like micoxafloppin.
Somewhat related…
I work with electronics. I am now at the point where I assume most components for sale on the Internet are counterfeit unless proven otherwise. (Unless they’re from DigiKey or Mouser, which are legit.)
I remember reading long ago about a mail fraud scheme for a product guaranteed to kill cockroaches. What you received for your money was two short pieces of 2x4 with the instruction of place roach on board A; smack it with board B. The USPS was not amused.
Rodney Dangerfield cracked that they were making birth control pills shaped like the Flintstones.
Shimmer. It’s a dessert topping! It’s a floor wax!
I wish I could remember the prank video I saw on YouTube, probably from the 1960s, and redone a couple of decades later. IIRC it was real engineers from a carmaker who did a presentation about designing and building an autofromzit or some other silly name, filling a conference room with blackboards and whiteboards with intricate diagrams and totally made up mathematical formulae.
“New Shimmer is a floor wax AND a dessert topping!”
Yeah, I’m familiar with that old SNL commercial!
When teaching prealgebra, I try to make story problems entertaining. Here’s a couple of “products” I’ve done examples for (figure out the original price before some percent discount, that sort of thing).
Circa 1977, Bud Haggart, an actor who appeared in many industrial training films in and around Detroit, performed in the first film realization of the description and operation of the turbo encabulator, using a truncated script adapted from Quick’s article. Haggart convinced director Dave Rondot and the film crew to stay after the filming of an actual GMC Trucks project training film to realize the turbo encabulator spot.
Another version was done by Mike Kraft, who had previously worked with Bud Haggart and known as the “retro encabulator” using an Allen-Bradley motor control center and referencing other brands owned by Rockwell Automation.
…
In 2022, Mike Kraft returned to narrate another video describing the “SANS ICS HyperEncabulator”, making many references to previous versions.
Turbo encabulator - Wikipedia
So, would we call Number 5 (“Why Don’t You Just Give Up”) an inaction figure?
Might be a mosstake.
I recall a similar (apocryphal) story from the UK.
The product was advertised as a Tiger Skin Rug. What you got was a tiger and a skinning knife… Okay, that was just a joke, but I did read of someone selling coat hooks which turned out to be a short plank and half a dozen four-inch nails.
When I see a product that someone is say “look what they’re making!” the first thing I look for is the Obvious Plant logo
Someone should market “DNA-free” food.
I once watched a program on the debate about GMO food and one customer who was interviewed in a grocery store stated: “I would never eat anything with DNA in it.”
Thank you!
Many years ago, someone took about a classified ad in High Times or some similar magazine, advertising an ounce of grass for $5. Quite a few people sent $5 to the address, and got a Baggie containing an ounce of lawn clippings.
The Postal Service ruled that no fraud was committed.
If this is an urban legend, let me know.
I also remember reading or hearing somewhere about people placing coupons for fake products in circulars, to find out which stores were committing coupon fraud.
Looks like someone slept through science class.
Some people say “I don’t eat anything that had a face, or a mother.” That, I get. But DNA?
I just saw some kid being interviewed saying the “farming is the #1 cause of global warming and it has to end…”
You can say that many plants have mothers.
Probably just steamed because they had to marry Corbin.
Maybe it’s been done but I imagine “Just Sugar” cereal that is nothing but solidified chunks of sugar with sugar frosting.