- 7 weeks ago
From flavors nobody asked for to marketing disasters that left us scratching our heads! Join us as we count down the most notorious junk food and beverage flops that should've stayed in the boardroom. Our list includes Crystal Pepsi, New Coke, Colgate Lasagna, Cheetos Lip Balm, and many more questionable creations that left consumers saying "why?"
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00:00Crystal Pepsi. All the great taste of regular Pepsi, but without that troublesome opacity.
00:05Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for junk food and drink fails.
00:10Fails include financial missteps, but also questionable dietary choices and things that are just, frankly, kind of gross.
00:17Those candy cigarettes with red tips.
00:22Number 30. New Coke.
00:24Have you ever heard the expression, if it ain't broke, don't fix it?
00:27Apparently, the Coca-Cola company had not back in 1985 when they decided to change the Coke formula.
00:33After a century of dominating the world's soft drink market, Coca-Cola is changing.
00:37Sure, Coke had been losing market share to Pepsi, so maybe in their minds it was broke.
00:42Either way, their fix kind of failed.
00:44It's a hit. It's a Coke. Coke is it.
00:48While the initial response to the new taste was positive, once the southern states got their hands on it, the backlash was mighty.
00:55It was so intense that Coke brought back the old formula within three months as Coca-Cola Classic.
01:01And remember when we said their fix kind of failed?
01:04Well, the reintroduction of the Classic formula led to a very nice bump in sales.
01:09Is Coke nervous?
01:10Not at all. We've never had more fun in our life.
01:13Number 29. Candy Cigarettes.
01:15Kids today will know them as candy sticks.
01:18But back in the 20th century, and even as far back as the late 1800s,
01:22they were straight up called candy cigarettes.
01:24Many even had a red tip to mimic a lit cigarette.
01:30These things are pure sugar with very little flavor.
01:33But if we were judging a product solely on its longevity, then candy cigarettes would not have made the list.
01:39However, in this case, it's safe to call these things a failure to our children.
01:43Now, each of these boxes are only about 25 cents versus the actual cigarette boxes, which are around $6 or $7.
01:51Especially children of the previous generation who, according to various surveys,
01:56were more likely to take up actual smoking if they'd been consumers of candy cigarettes.
02:01Candy cigarette?
02:02I don't want a candy cigarette. I want our Annie.
02:03Number 28. 7-Up Gold.
02:067-Up has always been clear-colored, and its marketing slogan for many years was
02:11Never Had It, Never Will, with the it being caffeine.
02:14Never had it, never will.
02:16This is important to note because 7-Up Gold was distinctly dark-colored and contained caffeine.
02:22Introducing 7-Up Gold.
02:24Wow, man!
02:25If you're confused by the decision, you're not alone.
02:29Consumers in 1988 were seemingly just as confused by it.
02:33They were so confused, in fact, that they basically decided that they never had it and never would,
02:38with it being 7-Up Gold.
02:39The product was discontinued within a year.
02:42Wild thing, I think I love you.
02:45Number 27. 3D Doritos.
02:48Sometimes, like with the first Avatar movie, having something in 3D can actually make it a better experience.
02:55And other times, it's just a gimmick.
02:583D Doritos is much more the latter.
03:01Don't get us wrong, we love Doritos.
03:03But puffing them up didn't really add much to them besides being able to fit fewer of them in a bag.
03:08A whole new shape that begs to be eaten.
03:11The original product had a decent six-year run from 1998 to 2004 before being discontinued.
03:18However, in 2020, they were back, in both chili cheese nacho and spicy ranch flavors.
03:23And, if nothing else, the return of the chip provided us with a great Matthew McConaughey Super Bowl commercial.
03:28Doritos.
03:29Now in 3D.
03:31Number 26. Cheese Whiz.
03:33This one might be a little controversial, as we know that there are people out there that love Cheese Whiz.
03:38And those that love it, really love it.
03:40The waiting is over.
03:41Cheese Whiz processed cheese spread.
03:43But the fact is that this is a bright orange processed cheese spread.
03:47And to call it cheese is a stretch, which is probably why they spell it with a Z.
03:52Although, to be fair, it would seem that when the product was introduced in the 1950s, it did contain a good amount of actual cheese.
03:59We aren't sure when that changed, but it did, and it was noticeable.
04:04Dean Southworth was on the development team that created Cheese Whiz.
04:08And in 2001, he tasted the current product and exclaimed that it tasted, quote, like Axel Grease.
04:14Cheese Whiz.
04:15You know you want.
04:17Number 25. Pepsi Blue.
04:19In 2001, Mountain Dew introduced their Code Red flavor and saw a nice bump in sales.
04:25When Pepsi saw that, they decided that they too needed a brightly colored version of their soda.
04:29And in 2002, the world got Pepsi Blue.
04:32Pepsi Blue, a fusion of berries with a splash of cola.
04:35However, while Code Red is still going strong today,
04:38Pepsi Blue was off store shelves in North America by the end of 2004.
04:43Pepsi promoted the hell out of the new Blue product.
04:45And while the company saw growth, the product did go down as a failure.
04:49Not to mention the fact that they used the Blue One coloring agent to get the soda's bright color.
04:54An agent that was, even at the time, banned in numerous countries.
04:58That's two fails in one, Pepsi.
05:00Pepsi Blue, a new fusion of berry and cola.
05:03Number 24. Lay's Cappuccino Flavored Potato Chips.
05:06How's this sound? Cappuccino Flavored Potato Chips?
05:10In 2014, the Lay's Do Us a Flavor Contest came down to four new flavors.
05:16Mango Salsa, Cheddar Bacon Mac and Cheese, Wasabi Ginger, and Cappuccino.
05:21The winner was Wasabi Ginger.
05:22But to say the cappuccino just lost would not be doing it justice to some of the comments Lay's got on their Facebook page regarding said flavor.
05:29How do nasty and gross sound?
05:32Not good when talking about how something tastes, right?
05:35The Today Show even did a taste test among their staff.
05:38And while one person called the cappuccino chips, quote,
05:41Not unacceptable, there was an acknowledgement of a rather unpleasant aftertaste that stuck around for a while.
05:47That's terrible.
05:48Number 23. Coors Rocky Mountain Sparkling Water.
05:51The Coors Beer Brewing Company has been brewing their beer using Rocky Mountain Spring Water for well over 100 years.
05:57It's brewed with pure Rocky Mountain Spring Water and its own special high country barley.
06:02So back in 1990, when the bottled water industry was raking in the cash, Coors saw an obvious opportunity to get in on it.
06:09The problem was that they kept the Coors name in the marketing and put it right there on the bottle as well.
06:14We're sure it tasted fine, but with so many options out there, who would grab the bottle of water with the beer name on it?
06:20Not many people it turns out, because Coors Rocky Mountain Sparkling Water was discontinued.
06:24How'd you do it? How'd you do it?
06:26Number 22. Swedish Fish Oreos.
06:29The Swedish Fish Oreo.
06:32Yep, you heard me right.
06:33Yep, this was actually a thing.
06:35You know how Oreo loves putting out limited edition flavors?
06:38Well, back in 2016, they gave us Swedish Fish Oreos,
06:42with a bright red Swedish Fish-flavored cream sandwiched between two classic chocolate cookies.
06:47So what'd they taste like?
06:48Well, according to various reviews, words like waxy, artificial cherry, slimy, and cough syrup were popular descriptors.
06:56Oh man, it smells like paint.
06:58We appreciate Oreo's willingness to take chances and bring us all kinds of flavor options we never would have thought possible.
07:04But they can't all be hits, and Swedish Fish Oreos was definitely one of their bigger misses.
07:09Do it, do it.
07:12It's gross.
07:14Number 21. Surge Soda.
07:15If imitation really is the sincerest form of flattery,
07:19then the Coca-Cola company was really flattering Pepsi in 1997 with the release of Surge Soda.
07:25Surge, life's a scream.
07:27Mountain Dew, which was owned by Pepsi, was growing fast, and Coke wanted something to compete with it.
07:33The original codename for the product was MDK, or Mountain Dew Killer.
07:37But kill Mountain Dew, it could not.
07:40He beat the rod!
07:41And by 2003, it was pretty much over.
07:43Not to say Surge didn't have its fans.
07:45In fact, it had some very dedicated fans who were loud enough to get Coke to re-release Surge in 2015.
07:51We're happy for these folks, but the aggressive marketing and the extreme sports?
07:56It all feels like an off-brand Mountain Dew to us.
07:58Surge is back!
07:59Surge is back!
08:01Number 20. Pringles Restaurant Cravers.
08:03Mozzarella sticks and marinara.
08:05We love a good serving of mozzarella sticks and marinara sauce as much as the next person,
08:10but did we really need them in the form of a potato chip?
08:12Pringles certainly thought so.
08:14The chip brand once launched a line of flavors dubbed Restaurant Cravers,
08:18focusing on classic entrees and appetizers like onion blossom and Mexican layered dip.
08:22Unfortunately, mozzarella sticks and marinara doesn't translate nearly as well to chip form.
08:28The joy of mozzarella sticks is rooted in texture.
08:31Why disrespect the cheesy, gooey nature of this timeless appetizer
08:35by turning it into a powder-coated chip.
08:37That's just blasphemy.
08:39Number 19. Pepsi AM.
08:41When it comes to revolutionizing the concept of the morning beverage,
08:44there have been far more spectacularly bad ideas.
08:47There are a lot of people who struggle to face the day without a morning dose of caffeine.
08:51Hoping to cash in on this demand, and maybe even convert some coffee drinkers,
08:55Pepsi unveiled Pepsi AM in 1989.
08:58To be clear, this wasn't some revolutionary new type of beverage.
09:02It was good old-fashioned Pepsi Cola with the caffeine level jacked way up.
09:06You're all hopped up on the caffeine.
09:08I feel like I'm talking a little faster, but it's very hard to tell.
09:10If your stomach is churning at the thought of starting your day with soda,
09:13you are not alone.
09:14It was discontinued just one year later.
09:17Number 18.
09:19Lay's Wow Chips.
09:20It's amazing how far some companies will go just so they can plaster their food
09:24with healthy phrases like sugar-free or zero calories.
09:27You know they're fat-free?
09:28Only half the calories.
09:29Holy cow!
09:31Unfortunately, changing a tried-and-true recipe is risky business,
09:35as Frito-Lay learned the hard way with their Wow Chips lineup.
09:38In 1998, Frito-Lay made special bags of Lay's, Doritos, and Ruffles that were fat-free.
09:45But this supposed benefit came at an immense cost,
09:47since the chips were made with Olestra instead of regular cooking oil,
09:51customers not only digested fewer calories than regular Lay's,
09:54they also began suffering from stomach cramps and diarrhea.
09:58Around 2004, Frito-Lay renamed the lineup as Light with a slightly new formula.
10:03Number 17.
10:05Hubba Bubba Bubble Jug.
10:06Wow.
10:07The Hubba Bubba brand has certainly put out some strange products beyond their standard gum.
10:11Some have really resonated with consumers like bubble tape.
10:14But the Hubba Bubba Bubble Jug?
10:16Not so much.
10:17These miniature containers housed a powder that would turn into gum when chewed.
10:21In other words, it was kind of like a Frankenstein Pixie Stix.
10:24What makes the product off-putting is that you're basically chewing pure sugar
10:28to the point where it becomes a homogenous, chewy substance.
10:31And while the gum that you wind up with is basically the same old Hubba Bubba,
10:35that initial mouthful of chunky powder is a serious turn-off.
10:39Number 16.
10:40Budweiser Extra.
10:41Can't we just keep it to one vice at a time?
10:43In the early 2000s, when energy drinks were all the rage,
10:47the quote-unquote king of beers decided to jump on the bandwagon
10:50by pumping a variation of their ever-popular beer full of caffeine.
10:55Boasting 6.6% alcohol and a hearty dose of caffeine,
10:58the beverage was certainly sending your body mixed messages.
11:01Leaving aside the fact that numerous studies have proven caffeinated alcoholic beverages to be incredibly dangerous,
11:06this brew was just downright disgusting.
11:09Oh, they also like to refer to it as Budweiser B to the E,
11:13like someone's deeply uncool uncle.
11:15You know, just to make you cringe twice as hard while drinking it.
11:19Number 15.
11:20Colgate Kitchen Entrees.
11:22Just as we blasted Coors for not being smart enough to realize
11:24that keeping the Coors name on their sparkling water bottles was a bad move,
11:28so too do we need to give Colgate their due.
11:31We're talking about Colgate Kitchen Entrees.
11:33Yes, the toothpaste company making frozen dinners.
11:37It's from Colgate, we can tell.
11:38At least Coors had a connection to the Rocky Mountain water.
11:41The only connection Colgate has to frozen food, or any food for that matter,
11:45is brushing it off our teeth before we go to bed.
11:48At least, from what we can tell, the frozen lasagna did not taste minty fresh.
11:53Teeth were made to indulge.
11:56Number 14.
11:57True Blood.
11:58For starters, can you say false advertising?
12:00This carbonated beverage is not, in fact, blood, human or otherwise.
12:05It is, however, a tie-in to the hit HBO series True Blood,
12:08and the blood beverage that the vamps in the show consume to quench their insatiable thirst.
12:13Don't drink the blood.
12:14For diehard fans of the series,
12:16this remarkably accurate-looking replica is sure to get their hearts pounding.
12:20Unfortunately, the marketing department decided to treat this beverage
12:23as more of a collector's item than a viable product,
12:26slapping on a hefty price tag that scared away many would-be faux vampires.
12:29Oh, and did we mention that most bloodsuckers in the show couldn't stand the stuff?
12:34Not exactly a great endorsement.
12:36Number 13.
12:37Tato Milk Chocolate Bars.
12:39How do you like your chocolate bars?
12:41You like them loaded with peanuts or crispy rice?
12:43Drizzled in caramel?
12:44Coating cookie bits?
12:46Well then,
12:47Tato Milk Chocolate Bars are not the decadent sweet you've been searching for.
12:50While most chocolate companies offer a variety of products
12:53in which chocolate is combined with peanut butter, wafers, or other candy,
12:56Tato chooses to load its chocolate bars with its own cheese and onion crisps.
13:00We're no stranger to sweet and savory treats like Ben and Jerry's late-night snack ice cream,
13:04but chocolate with chips that taste like cheese and onions?
13:08Count us out.
13:09Number 12.
13:10Maxwell Ready to Drink Coffee.
13:12Introducing a beverage that nobody needed.
13:15Making coffee simple.
13:16Add hot water to ground coffee beans in a filter and voila.
13:19Alternatively, stop at a drive-thru on your way to work.
13:22If you're really pressed for time and don't care about quality or taste whatsoever,
13:26instant coffee can be made, well, instantly.
13:29With these options available,
13:30taking coffee and putting it in a cardboard carton
13:33to then be poured out into mugs and reheated in the microwave
13:36had no justifiable reason to exist.
13:38In the end, it wasn't quicker or more convenient.
13:41And it certainly did not deliver a superior taste to a fresh-brewed pot.
13:45You know the secret of my capuchanas, muchachas?
13:47You know what?
13:48100% goat milk.
13:50Number 11.
13:51Burger King Shake Em Cheesy Fries.
13:53When Taylor Swift tells us to shake it off, we listen.
13:56But in the early aughts when Burger King wanted us to shake up our fries,
14:00people were not as keen to obey.
14:01Shake and eat.
14:03This is how it worked.
14:04First, you dump your fries into the bag.
14:06Then you add as much dehydrated cheese powder as you want,
14:09shake it all up, and voila.
14:11Cheesy fries.
14:12There's so many ways you can shake them up, like the Sub-Zero Shake.
14:16Not to mention the cheese powder all over your fingers,
14:18and if you weren't careful, everything else.
14:21It didn't take long for Burger King to shake this one right off of their menu.
14:25Oh yeah!
14:26Number 10.
14:27Vio.
14:28Once again, the leading soft drink manufacturer makes an appearance.
14:31Vio is a flavored carbonated milk beverage,
14:35which the Coca-Cola company introduced to American markets in 2009.
14:38To the shock of nobody who wasn't working for Coca-Cola,
14:42it was deemed a failure and soon pulled from production.
14:45In their defense, such beverages do succeed elsewhere in the world.
14:49In Japan, they're actually quite common.
14:51This is simply a case of trying to push a market way outside of its comfort zone.
14:55That being said, an updated Vio has since been introduced in India in 2016,
14:59where the product has seemingly fared better.
15:02Number 9.
15:03Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Pies.
15:05The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have had their faces slapped on a wealth of food products over the years.
15:10From cereal, to cookies, and even Chef Boyardee,
15:14marketing efforts seem to suggest that the iconic turtles are fond of more than just pizza.
15:18However, not every TMNT-endorsed product is created equal,
15:21with one of the worst offenders being Hostess's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Pies.
15:26While the vanilla pudding filling is enough to sell any kid,
15:29one look at the pie outside of the packaging will make you question what exactly you're putting in your mouth.
15:33They couldn't just make them turtle-shaped cupcakes, huh?
15:36Number 8.
15:37Coca-Cola Black.
15:39How do you connect with trendy young adults?
15:41How about making a mysterious black edition of your cola?
15:44Sure, that's great and all, but if you really want to get the people talking,
15:47you better drop a letter and randomly capitalize the K.
15:51Silly branding aside, Coca-Cola Black just didn't work.
15:54Why?
15:54It's Coca-Cola and something called Coffee Essence.
15:57Because its whole gimmick was that it was coffee-flavored.
15:59Consider it Coca-Cola's own attempt to capture the coffee-drinking market.
16:02It kind of reminds me of an...
16:04He could spit that onto the floor?
16:11They gave it a sophisticated-looking bottle that screamed flavored coffee
16:14and hoped to connect with the masses.
16:16Connect?
16:17They did not.
16:18It earned a few devotees, but mostly people preferred to keep their coffee and cola separate.
16:23It only lasted two years.
16:25Number 7.
16:26The Thanksgiving Dinner Holiday Pack.
16:29Jones Soda has managed to coexist with the heavyweights
16:31by carving out a niche for themselves with their unique photography-based bottle designs
16:35and willingness to embrace odd flavors.
16:38Yes, they offer up standards like root beer and cream soda,
16:40but they also do unusual flavors like peanut butter and jelly, chocolate and fufu berry.
16:45It's the specialty in holiday releases where things get really odd.
16:49The 2007 Gingerbread Man flavor?
16:52That we can get behind.
16:53This Thanksgiving sampler?
16:55Not so much.
16:56The 2005 National Pack comes with the following flavors.
17:00Turkey and gravy,
17:01Brussels sprouts with prosciutto,
17:02cranberry,
17:03wild herb stuffing,
17:04and pumpkin pie.
17:05The 2006 variety added an antacid flavor.
17:09Yikes, not exactly refreshing.
17:11Number 6.
17:12Ghostbusters Key Lime Slime Twinkies.
17:15Speaking of Hostess,
17:16the company behind Twinkies has gone through some bizarre flavors over the past decades,
17:20especially when it comes to cross-promotional products.
17:23We can tolerate flavors like Orange Cream Pop,
17:25Peppermint,
17:26and even Pumpkin Spice,
17:27but there was something about their Ghostbusters Twinkies that really threw us off.
17:31In addition to a white fudge marshmallow flavor,
17:33Hostess put out Key Lime Slime Twinkies as a promotional deal for the 2016 Ghostbusters reboot.
17:38We suppose the Key Lime flavor fits with Twinkies' cakey nature,
17:42but something about that green filling made these snacks seriously unappealing and oddly familiar.
17:48It just looks wrong.
17:49Hey, where's the cream filling?
17:53Number 5.
17:54Crystal Pepsi.
17:55Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is the highest-grossing movie in the Indiana Jones franchise,
17:59and who doesn't love Crystal Gale?
18:01However, not all things Crystal are a success.
18:04Allow us to take you back to the early 90s when North America was going crazy for clear.
18:09Clear soap,
18:10clear mouthwash,
18:11and even clear beer.
18:13Not to be outdone,
18:14Pepsi jumped headfirst into this fad with Crystal Pepsi.
18:17Sure, it did taste a little different from regular Pepsi,
18:20and it did have those awesome commercials with that Van Halen song.
18:23Do it right!
18:25Bring it on!
18:26And yes, consumers did associate Clear with a more pure product.
18:30But they also associated a certain taste profile with Pepsi that the Crystal version did not match.
18:36It was discontinued within two years.
18:38It's a big hit for people looking for a carbonated beverage that's light and uniquely refreshing.
18:44Number 4.
18:45Ranch Dressing Soda.
18:46Like Jones,
18:47Luster's Fixins is known for taking soda pop to strange and often exciting new places.
18:52This soda is without a doubt meant as a novelty,
18:55but it makes you stop and wonder,
18:57how far is too far?
18:59That smells like straight up puke.
19:01Some of their concoctions are bizarre,
19:03but nonetheless inspire a desire to give them a try.
19:06Take Bacon, PB&J, and Pumpkin Pie.
19:09Ranch flavor, on the other hand?
19:11The mere thought of it makes your stomach do somersaults.
19:13Based on their advertising,
19:15weird is clearly the angle they were going for.
19:18Luster let loose on this one.
19:20With this particular flavor,
19:21we wish they hadn't been so successful in achieving that goal.
19:24The smell is apparently repulsive,
19:26and the flavor has been described as,
19:28at best,
19:29unremarkable.
19:30Number 3.
19:31Easy Squirt Ketchup.
19:32Most people agree that ketchup is already perfect in its own right.
19:36Whether you're using it for your fries,
19:38burgers,
19:39or a massive plate of crispy tater tots,
19:41ketchup arguably makes everything taste better.
19:44But what happens when you decide to mess with an already winning formula?
19:47You wind up with the sort of failed product line
19:49that Heinz had on their hands with the Easy Squirt Ketchup in the early 2000s.
19:53For a limited time,
19:55kids could drizzle a rainbow of ketchup on their food.
19:58Unfortunately,
19:58the color just made the food look less appetizing.
20:01To adults at least.
20:03Yeah,
20:03it was still ketchup,
20:04but its appearance did not sit well with customers.
20:06Bug on the button.
20:07Shrek,
20:08you eat some funny stuff.
20:09It's just green.
20:11Number 2.
20:12Shrek Twinkies.
20:13Yep.
20:14We knew something felt off about those Ghostbusters Twinkies,
20:17and this was the reason.
20:19In 2001,
20:20dozens of food companies had their own cross-promotional deal
20:23to make disgusting Shrek-themed products.
20:25But of them all,
20:26Shrek Twinkies were arguably the worst.
20:28They stank?
20:29Yes.
20:29No.
20:30Oh,
20:30they make you cry?
20:30No.
20:31Oh,
20:31you leave them out in the sun,
20:32they get all brown,
20:33start sprouting little white hairs.
20:35No.
20:35For starters,
20:36the green filling was unsettling,
20:38and it didn't help that the front of the box proudly advertised
20:41ogre green creamy filling.
20:44If you were one of the poor unfortunate souls who bought a package,
20:47you probably realized your mistake after opening one of these foul sweets
20:50and discovered the Twinkie looked worse than what was on the box.
20:53And to think,
20:54they brought it back to promote Shrek 2.
20:56It's disgusting!
21:00Guards!
21:01Guards!
21:02I order you to get them out of my sight!
21:04No!
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21:181. Cocaine
21:22This drink promised serious levels of energy
21:25and was not afraid to invoke highly addictive illicit drugs to make that clear.
21:29The can even featured a font that looked like bumpy lines of white powder.
21:33The marketing was so problematic,
21:34the FDA actually had it banned on the grounds that Redox Beverages was, quote,
21:38illegally marketing the drink as both a street drug alternative and a dietary supplement.
21:43We're just asking the business owners to take this drink off their shelves.
21:48They compromised and rebranded it as No Name
21:51before eventually reverting back to the original name.
21:54Branding aside,
21:55this drink is also a bad idea for consumers.
21:58The caffeine and taurine levels are drastically higher than the competition,
22:02so much so that doctors have publicly warned against drinking it.
22:06What are your feelings on these fails?
22:08Let us know in the comments.
22:09The unique flavor will get them to buy it again and again.
22:13we'll be right back.
22:23We'll see you next time.
22:23Bye.
22:27Bye.
22:29Bye.
22:37Bye.
22:37Bye.
22:37Bye.
22:38Bye.
22:40Bye.
22:41Bye.
22:41Bye.
22:42Bye.
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