Seems like Bic didn’t learn their lesson. In 2012, they once again tried to appeal to women by releasing their line of pens especially for women under the name Bic for Her. The pens were built for a woman’s comfort and offered in stylish colors like pink and purple or in sparkly cases.
The pens stayed under the radar for a while, but in 2013 people who found them sexist began to write mocking reviews of them on Amazon. One user wrote that her brother used them and turned into a unicorn while others wondered if they needed permission from their husbands and fathers to use the pens. The pens can still be found on Amazon, but the sales and the scandal were definitely not what Bic was hoping for.
Rejuvenique Face Mask
This horrifying mask, which was released in 1999, claimed to use special facial zones and electric pulses to exercise your facial muscles and eventually get rid of wrinkles and make the wearer look younger. All you had to do was wear the mask for 15 minutes three or four times a week. The company even got Dynasty star Linda Evans as their spokeswoman.
Unfortunately, the mask was never approved by the FDA, and the mild pulses were described by users as extremely painful electric shocks. Users also complained of red marks after using the mask. In 2000, the FDA issued a letter of warning that the masks were unsafe and that selling them without approval was a crime.
Bic Perfume
What Bic had been unable to pull off in the 70s with disposable pantyhose, they tried to do in the late 80s with fragrances. This company was determined to make it in the women’s market and this time it was with their brand of drugstore perfume.
The company poured $20 million into the launch, but again the Bic name did not translate into luxury items. People were just not interested in smelling like Bic. Bic Perfume was gone from the shelves by the following year, costing the company close to $11 million.
Hannah Montana Cherries
In 2009, everybody loved Miley Cyrus, especially Disney, but it seems like they took putting her face on things a little too far. It’s unclear what the reasoning was behind this decision, but the character of Hannah Montana became the brand representative for cherries.
The decision raised more than a few eyebrows and soon headlines emerged saying it was inappropriate and simply put, a bad idea. Cherries remained on the market, but from then on have been Hannah Montana free.
AIBO
A robot dog sounds like something everyone can get behind. Sony sure thought so when they came out with AIBO in 1999. It was a robotic dog that could respond to 100 different commands and speak. The first batch, which included 3,000 units, sold out in half an hour, but even though Sony kept making them until 2005, AIBOs never made any real money.
Turns out people prefer real-life dogs and in 2006 Sony announced that they would no longer support man’s robotic best friend. This saddened many AIBO owners, especially in Japan, who are trying to keep their pets “alive” without the support or spare parts.