Top 10 Most Hated Tech Mascots Ever
Mascots are marketing personified. When they're good, they're grrreat, as Tony the Tiger, one of the world's more successful mascots might say. When they're lame, uninspired, annoying or perplexing, they might end up on a list like this. Mascots are particularly important in the technology industry, because so many tech products and services are intangible and would benefit from an evocative symbolic representative. It's hard to imagine Linux without thinking about penguins. As for the mascots t
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Introduced to the world in Microsoft Office '97 for Windows, Clippit the Office Assistant, AKA Clippy, has been declared "one of the worst software design blunders in the annals of computing," by Smithsonian Magazine. And similar sentiments have been expressed in countless other publications, blogs, and videos. Everyone hates Clippy, and such unanimity is rare online. Really, we should be thankful for Clippy as the source of endless mirth.
Clippy has fueled enough satire and ridicule that the chirpy little fellow could be the subject of a college course. RJL Software has created downloadable software to recreate Clippy. The website imageGenerator.net allows visitors to generate custom Clippy graphics. There are more Clippy parody videos on YouTube than you really want to see. Clippy has even inspired Halloween costumes.
But of all the Clippy humor, the funniest may be a segment on NPR's Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me from June 2008. Host Peter Sagal recited a litany of complaints about Windows that surfaced in a legal filing related to the Microsoft antitrust case and asked the contestant to identify the source, who turned out to be Bill Gates. Sagal joked that Gates had sent a message titled "CLIPPY MUST DIE," and the riff on Clippy that followed is simply hilarious. The segment can be heard on this YouTube video. Ignore the visuals and enjoy.
Before there was Clippy, there was Microsoft Bob, an alternative computer interface that used a house rather than a desktop as the organizational metaphor for interacting with files. Bob was included in Windows 3.1 and Windows 95, and met his end shortly thereafter. Bob has been widely excoriated over the years and appears destined to be included on every list of this sort for decades to come.
The Apple Cyberdog, alas, was a dog of a product. Cheap shot through that might be, it's nonetheless a reason to avoid dog-related mascots -- there's too much risk of description becoming destiny. Ahead of its time in terms of modularity, Cyberdog was Apple's answer to Internet Explorer and Netscape. It arrived at the peak of Microsoft's power and suffered for it. Apple has since sworn off endearing animal associations to become a force like Microsoft once was.
The Pets.com sock puppet doesn't look big enough to hold $300 million dollars. But that's nonetheless a pretty good way to think about the massive VC funding frittered away on Pets.com marketing and other expenses during the first dot-com bubble a decade ago. Beloved as a commercial icon, the Pets.com sock puppet should really be despised for being the wool pulled over investors' eyes. Someone should've stuffed a sock in that canine foot covering before it was too late.
Though more in the realm of sports than tech mascots, the ongoing online promotion of Wenlock and Mandeville, mascots for the 2012 London Olympics, makes them fair game. If you haven't heard from them on Twitter or seen them on Facebook, perhaps that's for the best. Imagine Gumby rendered as a cyclops in Terminator-style chrome and you may get a sense of this odd pair. And then, for the sake of your sanity, try to forget these Lovecraft-inspired horrors.
It's bad enough that Twitter users must endure the cutesy Twitter bird and twee terms like "tweet." But the company's physics-defying service outage graphic -- the Twitter Fail Whale -- is too much. It conceals inadequate network infrastructure and investment behind diversionary, calculated whimsy. Just wait until cable and phone companies catch on. "Hello, AT&T? Why is my Internet connection down? Oh, the birds can't lift the whale? I see. Okay. Well, keep up the good work."
Nothing says Yahoo! like...a purple rabbit with Goth-influenced eyeliner and no mouth -- AKA the Yahoo! Hong Kong mascot. Seriously, this thing is the stuff of nightmares or hallucinogenic TV shows like H.R. Pufnstuf. It should be locked away. On the other hand, the creepy rabbit mascot thing makes other Yahoo characters like the Search Monkey look quiet staid and endearing.
The Energizer Bunny began life as a parody of competing battery maker Duracell's battery operated bunny. Having lived long enough to become a symbol for dogged politicians or anyone who perseveres, the Energizer Bunny should have retired quietly. Instead, it's become a mockery of itself, with its own online store, 156-foot balloon, website, and even a "Keep Going" award. Please, no more.
This ghastly bird is the mascot of the French-speaking OpenOffice.org. Mascots should be inspiring, or at the very least evoke some positive feeling. Mooouette fails spectacularly on either count. It argues for the existence of virtual bird spikes.
One can only assume that the design process for Duke, the Java mascot, went something like this: Cut out 2D shapes, add to bag, and shake. Oh, look: a triangle and a ball. Just add arms and legs and we're done. Duke is not so much as mascot as a puzzle: What was the creator of this image smoking?
One can only assume that the design process for Duke, the Java mascot, went something like this: Cut out 2D shapes, add to bag, and shake. Oh, look: a triangle and a ball. Just add arms and legs and we're done. Duke is not so much as mascot as a puzzle: What was the creator of this image smoking?
Introduced to the world in Microsoft Office '97 for Windows, Clippit the Office Assistant, AKA Clippy, has been declared "one of the worst software design blunders in the annals of computing," by Smithsonian Magazine. And similar sentiments have been expressed in countless other publications, blogs, and videos. Everyone hates Clippy, and such unanimity is rare online. Really, we should be thankful for Clippy as the source of endless mirth.
Clippy has fueled enough satire and ridicule that the chirpy little fellow could be the subject of a college course. RJL Software has created downloadable software to recreate Clippy. The website imageGenerator.net allows visitors to generate custom Clippy graphics. There are more Clippy parody videos on YouTube than you really want to see. Clippy has even inspired Halloween costumes.
But of all the Clippy humor, the funniest may be a segment on NPR's Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me from June 2008. Host Peter Sagal recited a litany of complaints about Windows that surfaced in a legal filing related to the Microsoft antitrust case and asked the contestant to identify the source, who turned out to be Bill Gates. Sagal joked that Gates had sent a message titled "CLIPPY MUST DIE," and the riff on Clippy that followed is simply hilarious. The segment can be heard on this YouTube video. Ignore the visuals and enjoy.
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