Crunchy peanut butter. Cherry Coke. Vegan mayonnaise. These are the things that manufacturers got right but for every successful food product there is probably one that has failed -- in a big way. The Reader's Digest recently stepped back in time to revisit some of the biggest product fails in food history. We look at 12 of those food products that have flopped:
1. Life Savers Soda. Everyone loves the ring-shaped candies that bring minty and fruity delights to your mouth but while Life Savers sweets are a great idea, Life Savers soda is not, as was proven in the 80s when the drink was introduced and promptly discontinued.
2. Gerber Singles. The baby food giant decided to expand its product range in 1974 to college kids by offering them puréed meals as a quick dinner for one. These Gerber Singles meals came in Beef Burgundy and even Blueberry Delight but the concept did not take.
3. Cheetos Lip Balm. Scented and flavored lip balms are one of those small delights, but we are talking about the cherry, strawberry, mint and cola ones. Cheetos Lip Balm just does not have the same appeal but this did not stop someone from trying to release a lip product in 2009 that smelled and tasted like the crunchy orange snack. Haven't heard about it? Exactly.
4. Cosmopolitan Yogurt. Cosmopolitan magazine gets many things right. Millions of women turn to the publication for fashion, health, beauty and relationship advice but never for snacks. So, when readers came across a line of Cosmopolitan branded yogurt in 1999, they were confused. The product was not a hit.
5. Frito-Lay WOW! Chips. Everyone loves to snack on chips, the problem is that they are not kind to waistlines. Frito-Lay offered the perfect solution. Their line of WOW! Chips contained barely any fat but tasted like Doritos. The problem is that the very ingredient that made these chips so low in fat, olestra, also caused serious side effects like abdominal cramping and diarrhea.
6. Kellogg’s Breakfast Mates. For years Kellogg's has been bringing Americans their breakfast but in 1998 the corporation tried to cash in on the breakfast-on-the-go concept by launching Breakfast Mates -- a product that came complete with cereal, a small carton of milk and a spoon. While the idea was not so bad, it did not fly well with consumers and flopped a year later.
7. Pepsi A.M. Coffee in the morning is an age-old tradition but soda with breakfast just doesn't sound like a good idea. In the 80s, Pepsi tried to change this with a marketing campaign that tried to lead Americans to believe that it was perfectly acceptable to swap out the morning coffee for a can of sugar-laden soda. Pepsi A.M. promised early morning risers "all the sugar and twice the caffeine" as a regular Pepsi. It’s easy to see why the product flopped.
8. Ore-Ida Funky Fries. There is nothing wrong with regular old French fries but this did not stop Ore-Ida from trying to launch its range of blue, cinnamon and chocolate flavored Funky Fries in 2002. The products were pulled from shelves the following year.
9. Frito-Lay Lemonade. Innovation has driven Frito-Lay to introduce various products and while their main product has been a resounding, their lemonade flopped soon after hitting shelves.
10. Nestle Glowelle. We are all searching for the next best product to fight the signs of aging and Nestle decided to cash in on that in 2008 by introducing its own "beauty drink" called Glowelle. The product was made available across the world but it was a massive fail with U.S. customers.
11. Pepsi Blue. When you are up against other soda empires, the best way to stay on top of the game is by introducing new products but sometimes things can go horribly wrong. Pepsi A.M was a dud and so was Pepsi Blue, a berry flavored soda that failed to leave a lasting impression.
12. Stallone High-Protein Pudding. Who doesn’t want the muscle tone of Sylvester Stallone? You put in the work at the gym so it makes sense to load up on the protein for double the gains. That was the reasoning behind Stallone's range of high-protein puddings released in the early 90s. What ensued was a lawsuit and a whole load of drama about breaches of contracts and trade secrets. The product was dropped.