It's so important to keep your head on a swivel. Everywhere you look, consumer culture abounds.
With so many people trying to make a buck on the side or become the next dream startup, it seems like all it takes is a sigh and someone's whipping around the corner trying to sell you a solution.
Those who never take the bait are left wondering how so many sketchy products continue to exist and survive. After all, shouldn't enough No's make the peddlers give up?
The sad truth is that there are just enough people saying Yes to keep all those cockamamie schemes churning along.
Some Redditors gathered to discuss the most egregious--or entertaining--examples of the peddled goods.
monophag asked, "What products prey on stupid people?"
Not Functional, Thankfully
"Penis enlargement pills" -- yxnni12
"I forgot who said it but the bit goes 'if those pills worked men would figure out how many are the lethal dose and take one pill less than that'" -- Uv2015
"If those pills worked, they wouldn't be advertising it on cable television at 2AM, they'd own the damn moon." -- VealIsNotAVegetable
Discipline is Free
"A lot of those fitness products on instagram, there's no easy way to a good body I'm afraid." -- mister1bollock
"Sure there is."
"Keep an eye on the obituaries and a quick trip with a shovel can get you any kind of body you want!" -- Conchobar8
The Science of Steam
"Anything Gwyneth Paltrow tries to sell you." -- booksoverppl
"You mean women don't need a vagina steamer?" -- StevesMcQueenIsHere
"I put one of those jade eggs up my a** and two weeks later gave birth to a dragon so we'll see who is stupid in about ten years buddy boy" -- vivnsam
Donkey Doug and Pillboi
"So this one time I bought this two in one body spray and energy drink called double trouble from these two guy called Donkey Doug and Pillboi in Jacksonville Florida..."
"...and now my liver is shot. But if I had to choose from one of the three flavors I would pick I would choose Cedarwood Melon blast"
**Not a False Claim
"Mobile games that say '100% of people haven't gotten passed level 5'" -- fazgator
"It's true though, because they all realized by level 3 that the game is a piece of garbage." -- lordpsymon
"Those ads are infuriating, but what's really sad is that the company behind most of those ads (voodoo) could make really addictive games, if only they stopped pumping games every two seconds and actually took the time to polish them" -- crimsoniac
Special Secret Powers
"Anything with the word 'detox' in it, that claims to do so. Spoiler alert: your kidneys do that for free." -- I4getstuff
"Similar, most things that have _____properties. Advertising laws won't allow specific claims, but somehow the loosely phrased healing properties, fat-burning properties etc afterward get in the door." -- equanimity19
First to Market
"Healing crystals"
"I get they're against big pharma and yeah sure, a lot of conspiracy theories might be true, but if healing stones did work, do those people honestly not think they would have monetised the crap out of them themselves?"
A Manufactured Industry
"Massively-expensive engagement rings."
"I get it, you want something unique and memorable, but for the love of God, don't drop more than you can afford on it! Unless you sh!t money, don't buy 10, 50, 100k rings! They're overpriced, and you can prove that yourself by trying to re-sell them."
"Now if you inherited it from your grandparents, that's another story."
"In a similar vein, weddings. It is completely possible to have a great wedding for a low price. Don't go into debt over it!"
Fleeting Wealth
"Multi Level Marketing products. Both for the end user and the 'seller'" -- lordpanda
"MLMs" -- Lethal_bizzle94
"Moms Losing Money" -- Snrub1
"Had a friend lose her mind over this, quit her job and got her kid telling mine that they were 'rich' now and I should quit my job. It was hard to watch and she stuck with it for a crazy amount of time."
"Our kids are still friends, us not so much. She had to go home to another state to live with her parents..'becuz the market was better there.' I'm sure it wasn't becuz she was out of money. Sad.." -- Laylah19
Paid to Peddle
"I tried to sell window, door, and bathroom luxury remodels to people lower income areas because my boss said they were more desperate and will pay a little extra to get any sort of help."
"I left that job real fast after she told me that I was being too nice and I should use my ability to be empathetic to lure people in then aggressively pressure them into buying."
"Life force got drained a little bit."
Monetized God
"Televangelism." -- CoreyGotClass
"Evil on another level. That guy that sells magic water, has been conning people for decades." -- JustJennifer709
"praise be to our lady of perpetual exemption!" -- Coobk165
Fine Print
"'Make $10,000 per month with my easy stock market system*, which I'm giving to you for only $19.95 with a 30 day money back guarantee**. But only if you call in the next five minutes.'"
"*May not be easy, may not be an actual system. You will loose money if you purchase this product. We make no claim that this system will produce any actual profit. May not be an actual 'system.' We make no claim to know what 'system' actually means."
"Actors were compensated for their appearance in this ad. We are not financial experts and nothing in this ad should be taken as legitimate financial advice. If you spend $19.95 on this rubbish, may God have mercy on your soul."
"**Money back guarantee only good in American Samoa and the Virgin Islands."
Stay In Your Lane
"General products marketed 'for women' - like razors for example. Exactly the same as men's razors but with flowery packaging and nearly twice the price!" -- PaisleyBrain
"Fake news! Everybody knows that if a man uses a pink razor, he will grow a vagina. And if a woman uses a blue razor, she will grow a penis. This is science." -- LocallySourcedWeirdo
Knowledge is Savings
"'Sharpest knives in the world' sets... just buy two knives, a chefs knife and a pairing knife. That's all you ever need in the kitchen.... and the knowledge to keep them sharp." -- TannoyVoice92
"I definitely was part of a knife set MLM. I made just enough in sales to pay for my own set then got out. Nice knives but my gods were they grossly overpriced." -- Daedalus1728
Relegated to the Fringes
"Psychic readings."
"If even a single person had real psychic abilities, it would be extremely easy to prove it, and they'd be instantly a zillionaire. But nobody has done this because nobody can do it."
-- permacloud
Arbitrary Demand
"Diamonds. They're not rare, artificial diamonds are exactly the same thing, and they're the least interesting arrangement of carbon." -- Arkansas_confucius
"And indeed you don't have the blood diamond worry with artificial. Debeers spent a lot of money to make us think diamonds are important" -- AshFraxinusEps
An Arm and a Leg for a Week
"Timeshares. I can't believe they still exist after ripping people off for so many years.." -- fishinbarbie
"I used to work for RCI (timeshare exchange company) and the whole entire thing is a ripoff.
"You pay maintenance fees, property taxes, and then RCI has their own membership fees, exchange fees, extending your points fee, and all these fees totaling hundreds of dollars a year just for a week vacation."
"And why. Why??? Some people are loaded so they didn't care. But some truly are just regular middle-class people who got swindled, and I felt really bad for them. I'm so happy I finally got away from that hellhole." -- wildboywifey
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