Kickstarter and other crowdfunding platforms have been instrumental in getting some out-of-the-box ideas off the ground, but for every truly groundbreaking concept there are a hundred others that should have stayed as smudges on a whiteboard. Since the flow of bad ideas never seems to end, New Atlas once again picks through the cream of the crap to highlight some more of the worst Kickstarters we've seen recently.
BarfSuit
The tastefully-named BarfSuit perfectly straddles the same line as the movie The Room – is it deliberately bad as a joke, or is it bad in earnest? It could be either, and it helps that the creator gives off strong Tommy Wiseau vibes in the campaign video. At a glance the BarfSuit looks like a regular (albeit really ugly) t-shirt, with two big, empty eyes and a slack mouth that almost looks like it's open to show off your belly.
But when you're feeling a bit queasy, the belly-mouth has a secret side gig as a sick bag holder, and the eyes are hiding little clips to hold it in place, so you can vomit hands-free. It seems a little fiddly in the heat of the moment, but maybe you're supposed to walk around with a vombag pinned to your chest at all times, just in case. For unknown reasons, this one raised a grand total of US$3.
Pickle Rick condoms
In one episode of the latest season of Rick and Morty, mad scientist Rick turns himself into a pickle – and the internet hasn't shut up about it since. It wasn't long before that insufferable fanbase even tried to ruin sex by sticking Pickle Rick on a condom, but thankfully the Kickstarter campaign finished prematurely. Even the lamest Jerry could have predicted that the only attention it would arouse was that of the copyright holders, who forced them to pull out.
Spooni
Hate wasting precious seconds blowing on your baby's food to cool it down? Why not buy a $60 spoon that does it for you! The Spooni was a French invention-for-invention's-sake that crammed a fan into the chunky handle of a baby's feeding spoon. Our guess is that using it went one of two ways: either it blew too hard, making a bigger mess than your baby would by themselves, or it was barely a breeze, and time was the one doing all the cooling.
Poptheatr
Sick of dropping your phone on your face while watching movies in bed? Want some privacy away from those grumpy old folk who say kids today are staring at their phones too much? The Poptheatr was made to let you bury your head in the sand, like an ostrich with the latest iPhone. The idea was simple: Just strap your phone in the top of the tent, then lie down and stick your head in to watch. We can only assume you'd be too busy to hear people talking about how ridiculous you look.
Ostrich Pillow Hood
Speaking of ostriches, how about a standalone hood that you can bury your face in? The Ostrich Pillow Hood is for those who want to wear a hood but don't want to wear a hoodie – we're sure you have your reasons. The "best" part is you can wear it backwards for that trendy prisoner-facing-the-guillotine look. We were spared a barrage of hooded hipsters when the creators cancelled the project, but they left the ominous warning that "this is not a goodbye."
Mokase
These days phone cases can earn their keep by doubling as power banks or sporting LEDs, but one thing we never thought our phone cases would be doing is making coffee. The Mokase could apparently do just that, like a coffee pod machine in your pocket. It was said to be able to heat up a small, insertable pouch of coffee in eight seconds without overheating your phone, but whether or not it could was beside the point – the real question is why bother? Why run the risk of heating liquids near expensive electronics when you could just … not put the hot liquids near your expensive electronics?
If you need a device that can brew up a cuppa on the go, electronic coffee cups make way more sense. It doesn't matter now anyway, since Kickstarter kicked this one to the curb before the campaign ended.
My Bucketlist
What if your bucket list – wait for it – was on an actual bucket?! And with that, you have the entire idea behind My Bucketlist. It may look like every other bucket out there, but with this one your $30 would also get you some blank lines printed on the side. Bargain! We just hope "run a successful Kickstarter campaign" wasn't on the bucket list of anybody on the My Bucketlist team.
Hitch
These days luggage has all kinds of fancy tech in it that lets it follow you through airports autonomously, avoiding obstacles. But hey, why bother with that when you can just get a big hook, latch it to your belt and drag your bags around like an awkward tail? Unfortunately only eight people bothered to pledge to the Hitch – everybody else probably realized any old hook would do the same job.
These eight devices are just scratching the first layer of sludge at the bottom of the barrel! Let us know what other downright awful crowdfunding campaigns you've come across in the comments below.
