When technology works, when studies are successful, when product launches go well, life is good. But we know this isn’t always the case, sometimes things just go horribly wrong. Today, we’re talking about experiments that went array; and hey, if you’re not having the best of days, we hope it’s still better than the days these guys had. Let’s get started!
McBubblegum Flavored McBroccoli
We’ve seen quite the revolution across fast-food menu options when it comes to more readily available healthier options, but McDonald’s really tried to do the most back in 2014 when they came up with the idea of bubblegum flavored broccoli in an attempt to get kids to eat more vegetables. As you can imagine, the combination was … confusing, to say the least, and the idea was eventually scrapped. But hey, they tried, right?
Stubbin Ffirth’s Yellow Fever Experiment
If you’re easily grossed out, you may want to skip this one. Stubbin Ffirth was a Salem, Mass native attending school in Philadelphia in the early 1800s. At this time yellow fever was starting to hit cities hard, killing thousands of people. While the cause was unknown, it was widely theorized that yellow fever was due to “bad air”. Ffirth wasn’t really buying this and was convinced yellow fever was being spread through bodily fluids, specifically vomit; what Ffirth did to attempt to prove his theory was pretty outlandish. First, Ffirth tried infecting dogs and cats with yellow fever via vomit, but he had no luck with this, so he started trying it on himself. Ffirth injected vomit into his veins, under his cuticles, and into his eyes, then eventually tried putting the vomit over heat and inhaling the steam. Again, Ffirth had no luck proving his theory so he took it one step further and ate some black vomit, had no luck and ate even more. Finally, Ffirth began entertaining the idea that maybe it wasn’t transmitted through vomit. Eventually, we came to understand that mosquitos were to blame.
Stanford Prison Experiment
What was supposed to be a role-play and simulation at Standford University in 1971, quickly turned intense and chaotic. The point of the experiment was to examine the effects that situational variables had on participants’ reactions and behaviors in a two-week simulation of a prison environment. On day one of the experiment “arrests” took place and “convicts” were taken to their cells, meanwhile guards were instructed to act like, well, prison guards. By day two, the prisoners were already rebelling and guards were struggling to remain in control. On day three the guards had enough, and they struck back. Due to extreme outrage, the experiment was canceled on day six. This study faced years of criticism, even ethical issues, and was eventually discredited due to being “deeply flawed”.