The Biggest Product Design Fails in History

Purchased At: Various Stores
Estimated Price: $6*

Spongebob Squarepants blew up the TV world, captivating kids and adults alike. What’s more, the cartoon is one of Nickelodeon’s most lucrative works in terms of merchandising. If you can stick Spongebob’s face on it, it’s getting made. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good idea, though. 

Chocolate SpongeBob @SenorHolcombb / Pinterest.com

Spongebob isn’t exactly easy on the eyes at the best of times, but when you make him into edible chocolate and give him bright blue peepers, you’re asking for trouble. This product doesn’t exactly appeal to kids as much as it straight out terrifies them. 

Purchased At: N/A
Estimated Price: $1,000-$3,000*

This one made not only the r/ThanksIHateIt Reddit thread, it also made several lists of “Accidentally Inappropriate Slides.” The Banana Slide is certainly an oddity, but, luckily, adults are probably the only ones who will catch the sheer strangeness of the slide’s layout. Kids won’t even notice or care, they just want to slide.

Banana Slide @buzzfeed / Pinterest.com

As one commenter put it, “What has two thumbs up and won’t go down that slide?” What’s amazing is that the slide isn’t even the only inappropriate one out there. According to BuzzFeed, this one is tied for weirdness with a slide that comes out of an elephant’s behind.

Purchased At: ThinkGeek
Estimated Price: $23.89*

While everyone appreciates a clever phone charger, this one might be taking it a little too far. Instead of the charger cord just coming out of a normal base, this cord comes out of Pikachu’s behind, leaving very little to the imagination.

Pikachu's Peekaboo Charger @u/mojoryan2003 / Pinterest.com

Yes, it does charge your phone—but at what visual cost?ThinkGeek is the maker of this charger, which is surprisingly expensive, costing almost $24. ToyGameWiz.com said you can “slide a USB” into a place “where no USB has ever gone” with this charger. Just make sure you slide Pikachu’s ears off first, as those are the prongs for the wall socket.

Purchased At: Unknown
Estimated Price: $2.89*

We’re used to Spider-Man shooting out white webbing from his hands, but this is something entirely different. Kleenex partnered with the M.C.U. to create a line of Spider-Man-related products, including this box of Kleenex. Unfortunately, the product design needs a little bit of work, though comic fans no doubt found it hilarious.

What Does Kleenex Have Againt Spiderman? @letribunaldunet / Pinterest.com

As one commenter put it, “I’m no expert, but Kleenex should rethink their box design.” If you want Spider-Man tissue that doesn’t come in this strange box, you can try Amazon or Walmart. On Amazon, three packs cost $8.94. At Walmart, you’ll pay $5.97 for three flat boxes.   

Purchased At: Target
Estimated Price: $9.99*

Everyone’s favorite furry red monster has been around since 1980. Elmo first appeared in the eleventh season of Sesame Street, and kids loved him immediately. He got his full fifteen-minute mini-show on Sesame Street called “Elmo’s World,” and he has since become a cultural icon.

When Elmo Attacks @Pinner62764345 / Pinterest.com

Though the Elmo we know and love might be a friend to all, this Elmo certainly is not. The Sesame Street toy looks more like “When Elmo Attacks” than a fun, cuddly toy to play with. While it’s more than likely just bad product design that caused Elmo to choke a kid, keep an eye out.   

Purchased At: Unknown
Estimated Price: $4-$5*

As one commenter put it, this toy is having an “identity crisis.” She bought a toy helicopter, only to find that it was labeled “plane” on the outside. More than likely, this was a case of sloppy manufacturing (or perhaps someone really doesn’t know the difference between a plane and helicopter).

Helicopter Plane @u/AshVasquez / Reddit.com

Luckily, kids probably won’t notice or care, unless they manage to be aviation-savvy at a young age. If you’re looking for accurately-labeled toy helicopters that aren’t super expensive, try shopping on Amazon or hitting up your local dollar store, as they’re bound to have some there. Just make sure to check the label first.

Purchased At: Unknown
Estimated Price: $5-$10*

These mice look like they escaped from a lab somewhere, and that’s why they have two noses. One shopper was browsing a toy aisle when he spotted a toy mouse with not one but two noses. One nose is painted on the face (that’s the nose that looks like it belongs).

Double-Nosed Mice @sulopefer / Pinterest.com

The other is a large black ball attached between the eyes. As one person said, “How many noses does he need?” The mice are dressed in clothes from The Nutcracker, which is a play based on a story called “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.” It makes you wonder if there’s a king mouse doll with three noses.

Purchased At: Queen Love
Estimated Price: $0.35-$0.45*

Be glad you didn’t Google this soap, as the explanation is even creepier. This “toilet soap,” as it’s called, is made by a company called Queen Love in Zhejiang, China. The blue, oval soap is used to clean “the most sensitive areas of women,” according to the company.

Nope Soap @finley3wi / Pinterest.com

It costs only a few cents per bar, and the company has a minimum order of 7,200 pieces on AliBaba.com, which makes absolutely no sense. Also, the majority of the different box covers for Queen Love soap have scantily-clad women on them, which just heightens the creepiness factor even more.     

Purchased At: Unknown
Estimated Price: $10-$15*

Star Wars is one of the world’s top-grossing franchises, and it boasts box office revenue of more than $10 billion. The franchise’s toy component is probably in the billions as well. We think this toy might be a knockoff, as George Lucas was always pretty specific about having the highest-quality toys possible.

Straightforward Marketing @u/Mc237269 / Reddit.com

This Star Wars toy features Yoda, except a really odd-looking Yoda with bulbous, cross-eyed eyes. The label on the package says “Super-Deformed Plush,” which, to be fair, is true. We don’t see any Disney licensing labels on it, so we assume that this is a knockoff toy.

Purchased At: eBay
Estimated Price: $80*

Some products are both incredible to look at and immediately unsettling. This cat bag falls straight into that category (no pun intended.) Most of us want our bags to look pretty normal, but the designers of this thought cat lovers would find it spectacular. 

Cat Bag @ebay

The result is a feline backpack that looks just like the real thing, but whether that’s a selling point is yet to be determined. You can unzip it and stuff it full of your belongings, pose it and make it look like it’s holding a fish, or simply give it a good stroke. Either way, this design wonder will cost you $80.

Purchased At: DC Comics
Estimated Price: $24.98-$29.98*

The designer probably giggled the whole time he was making these scissors. One product is a pair of sharp kitchen scissors designed like Wonder Woman, with one of her legs as each part of the handle. When you cut, the legs spread, which will delight fans of immature humor everywhere.

Wonder Woman Scissors @Belbowls / Pinterest.com

These vintage scissors are made by DC Comics, and they’re from the late 1970s (1978, to be exact), when weird toys ran rampant. If you like these scissors, you can buy them on eBay for $24.98. Amazon also has them for $29.98, selling them from an “old toy warehouse” up in Canada.

Purchased At: Local dollar store
Estimated Price: $1*

Maybe less people would fight the police if the handcuffs were more comfortable. As the shopper said, “This is why I liked to go to my local dollar store.” The toy section of the dollar store is always weird, and these handcuffs are a delightful example of that weirdness.

Fuzzy Police Handcuffs @u/bottleleg / Reddit.com

The toy, which is honestly labeled “Ages 3+,” includes police handcuffs that aren’t the usual solid steel and automatic locking device. They’re instead pink, fuzzy, and definitely not up to departmental regulation. Though some departments are using disposable nylon cuffs, we doubt that they’ll ever make the jump to these ones.

Purchased At: Unknown
Estimated Price: $35.55*

Made by Globee, you can buy one of these “Real Life Expressions” dolls on eBay for under $40 if you’re into terrifying kids’ toys. Real Life Expressions was a line of wide-eyed, shocked-looking toys from Globee, and they mostly retailed in Europe in the 1990s (the one on eBay is from 1995).

"Real Life Expressions" Doll @u/HufflepuffHomey / Reddit.com

Globee dolls advertised themselves as “adorable dolls” that have “real-life expressions.” If we saw an actual baby that looked like this, we’d call 911. The toys appear to be battery-powered, so we can only wonder what exactly this wild-eyed creation does when you pop a battery in and flip on the switch. 

Purchased At: Animal Planet
Estimated Price: $9.99*

Animal Planet is supposed to be our go-to for information about every single animal out there, including the gross world of insects. From War of Insects to the Bugs! chapter books, Animal Planet tells us all we need to know about our many-legged friends (or enemies, depending on how you feel about bugs).

Cockroachs Truly Get Everywhere @ebaumsworld / Pinterest.com

However, when it comes to this Animal Planet toy, the channel really dropped the ball. This “Pull Back Tarantula” actually contains a giant cockroach. Though inaccurate, the two are equally terrifying and would cause horror-movie levels of screaming if they were dropped onto a pillow. Still, this one isn’t as scary as the giant, remote-controlled centipede Animal Planet sells on Amazon.