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Written by Scot Meyer
SwitchYard Media, Inc. - contact | website
Designed and produced by Lang Kirchheimer
Tin Can Rocket, LLC. - contact | website
A production of SwitchYard Media, Inc.
Photo Courtesy of GM
Pulling the Plug
Talk about a discontinued product -- when the General Motors EV1 electric car was withdrawn from the market in 2003, the company took back all of the vehicles and crushed most of them.
GM introduced the EV1 in 1996, in response to a looming California requirement that all major carmakers doing business in that state offer zero emission vehicles. GM's aim was to use the EV1 to test the feasibility of electric cars in a real-world setting, and to that end it leased them to a selected group of consumers in California and Arizona.
Despite waiting lists of would-be leasees and positive feedback from those actually driving the cars, GM cancelled the EV1 program after California dropped its zero emissions car mandate.
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Photo Courtesy of Crystal Pepsi
A Different Kind of Uncola
Part of a wave of clear products that hit the market in the early 1990s, Crystal Pepsi was promoted as a "clear alternative" to other colas. (Coca-Cola later joined the fray with a clear version of its Tab diet soda.)
Crystal Pepsi, which contained no caffeine or artificial colors, was sold beginning in 1992. Sales were strong at first, totaling about $474 million in the first year, but they fell sharply and PepsiCo pulled the plug.
Some people who fondly remember the product say it was a cola you could spill on a light-colored carpet without leaving a stain.
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Bob Batchelor
Breaking Up is Now Harder To Do
Bonomo’s Turkish Taffy was introduced after World War II, sold in wrappers that urged consumers to break the brittle bars into pieces for a longer-lasting chewy treat.
During the candy’s heyday in the 1950s and 1960s, some 80 million to 100 million bars were sold each year.
After product creator Victor Bonomo retired in 1970, the candy bar changed hands. Bonomo’s Turkish Taffy, which had been made in a Coney Island factory in New York, was acquired in 1980 by Chicago-based Tootsie Roll Industries. In 1989 the product was discontinued and nostalgic hearts (but not candy bars) were broken.
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Pittaya, Creative Commons 2.0
They Gave Us Those Nice, Bright Colors
Before digital cameras came to dominate the scene, taking pictures was all about capturing images on film. And for professional photographers (and serious amateurs), choosing a brand of film to use was as important as picking the kind of camera.
Kodachrome, a brand of film immortalized in a 1973 Paul Simon song of the same name, was introduced by Eastman Kodak in 1935. It was actually developed as a motion picture film, but Kodak developed versions in a variety of formats, including the slide film that became prized by photographers for its rich, bright colors.
Alas, after 74 years of production Kodak discontinued the film in June 2009, citing falling demand in a digital age. The move added new poignancy to Simon's refrain, "Mama don't take my Kodachrome away."
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Photo Courtesy of Hershey
Best discontinued candy, Bar None
Hershey Chocolate introduced its Bar None candy bar in 1987. The company’s first new product introduced for national distribution in five years, Bar None had a cocoa wafer and a chocolate filling, as well as peanuts and a milk chocolate coating.
The product was reconfigured in 1993, with two chocolate-covered wafers, peanuts and caramel. But the change was not enough to save the product, which was discontinued a few years later.
Fans contend the decision to stop production was premature, and are calling for its return. An online petition asking Hershey to bring back the Bar None bar has 1,210 signatures, but so far the result hasn’t been sweet.
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Photo Courtesy of Nabisco
Disbanding the Team
Nabisco’s Team Flakes cereal was introduced in 1963, with advertisements boasting that it was a four-grain cereal that would stay crispy even after being immersed in milk.
Early ads suggest the product got its name because it contains four grains -- corn, rice, oats and wheat -- that team up in flakes that have baked in bubbles to keep them from getting soggy. Devotees say the cereal stayed crunchy down to the bottom of the bowl. But the brand did not live long past the acquisition in the early 1990s of RJR Nabisco’s cold cereal business in North American by Philip Morris, which owned the Post cereal line.
The bad news for those hoping the crispy breakfast food will make a comeback: there may be a Team Flakes Web site (teamflakes.com), but the crispy cereal itself is history.
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A Dramatic Exit
Falstaff Beer dates back to 1903, when Lemp Brewing of St. Louis chose the outsized Shakespearean character as a symbol of their company. By the 1960s Falstaff Brewing was America’s third largest beer maker, with plants around the country.
But the company’s fortunes began to wane in the 1970s, and the next two decades were marked by sales declines and plant closings. In 1990 the Falstaff brand name was acquired by Pabst Brewing, which continued to brew the beer through 2005.
Now devotees can celebrate the storied brand via the fan Web sites (www.falstaffbrewing.com) or by listening to the Sheryl Crow song "A Change Would Do You Good," which mentions the brew. But if they want an actual cold one they’ll have to choose something else.
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A Disagreeable Departure
Agree was a popular hair care brand in the 1970s, when the shampoo and conditioner vowed to help young consumers avoid the scourge known as "the greasies."
S.C. Johnson’s advertising for its Agree shampoo, and the accompanying creme rinse and conditioner, promised to fight the oily hair that it said teens in particular were especially susceptible to. The ads said that Agree conditioner, for example, was 99.75% oil free and provided "beautiful wet combing and great conditioning, without the use of oils that can cause the greasies."
Agree, and most of S.C. Johnson’s other shampoo lines, were divested in the early 1990s. Agree was later discontinued, although the distinctive green hair care products are not forgotten, and some devoted fans still buy dusty bottles via the Internet.
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Chickening Out
Ragu Chicken Tonight was a line of sauces sold during the 1990s and available in flavors such as Honey & Mustard, Country French and Thai Green Curry.
The sauces were promoted with the slogan "I Feel Like Chicken Tonight," and the promise that they could turn a skillet full of chicken chunks into a flavorful entree.
But apparently not enough Americans felt like chicken on enough nights to keep the product on store shelves, and it was discontinued.
A version of the product sold under the Knorr brand did catch on in Australia and the United Kingdom, so fans of the product can still stock up -- if their grocery budgets include sizable travel allowances.
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Photo Courtesy of Jell-O
Shedding Tiers
Jell-O 1-2-3 debuted in 1969, offering consumers a new wrinkle in homemade desserts. Jell-O gelatin itself was nothing new by that time; the product had been invented in 1897. But what made this version of the product different was that once it was mixed with boiling water and set aside to cool, it would separate into three layers -- a clear bottom, a chiffon middle and a creamy top.
After a few decades the novelty may have worn off, and the product was discontinued in 1996 due to declining sales.
To console any remaining disappointed fans, Kraft recently added a recipe to its Web site showing how to make a similar dessert using a box of regular Jell-O and a tub of light Cool Whip.
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