Top Ten Most Ridiculous Fads

This past February I started a series of weekly Top Ten lists. You may remember posts such as Top Ten Pet Peeves or Top Ten Things To Survive a Deserted Island (for the complete list, click here). I like Top Ten Lists because they are fun, tangible, and who doesn’t love lists? Continuing this Tuesday tradition from my previous blog, Motley Mama will also feature a Top Ten List twice a month. Please let me know your Top Ten list suggestions!

This week: fads! A fad refers to a fashion that becomes popular in a culture relatively quickly, but loses popularity dramatically. Some fads may come back if another generation decides that hey, mood rings are cool. Here is my list of the most ridiculous fads from the past decade. Happy Top Ten Tuesday!

1) Shake Weight

The Shake Weight is a modified dumbbell that creates a vibrating effect to work out muscles. It is also the source of much ridicule because of the sexually suggestive nature of the infomercial and the basic absurdity of the product. If you’ve never seen it advertised, you must watch it here. SNL does a funny skit about it, how could they avoid it? The humor in this ridiculous fad is almost too obvious.

What made it hot: The promise of easy exercise with quick results (of course).
What made it cold: Looking in the mirror while using the shake weight.

2) Baggy Butt

“Baggy Butt,” for lack of a better term, is simply the ongoing trend to wear one’s pants so low that the underwear (or worse) is exposed. How this fashion nightmare is still popular boggles my mind.

 

 

What made it hot: Baggy pants=tough kid on the block.
What made it cold: Realizing you look like you can’t dress yourself.

3) Sleeved Blanket

This strange phenomenon began in late 2008 and can still be found in random aisles at the grocery store. But what is it? Snuggie, Snuggler, Doojo, Toasty Wrap, or Slankets are a body-length blanket with sleeves usually made of fleece or Velux material. It is similar in design to a bathrobe that is meant to be worn backwards.

What made it hot: We’re lazy and didn’t want to put on a sweatshirt?
What made it cold: Realizing you look like this guy.

 

4) Segway

The Segway PT is a two-wheeled, self-balancing electric vehicle invented by Dean Kamen. It is also one of the most ridiculous looking modes of transportation available. I love to see segway tours running through Lancaster city. Very amusing to see grown men and women acting like it isn’t a toy.

What made it hot: We’re lazy.
What made it cold: Catching your reflection in passing cars and realizing walking isn’t all that terrible.

5) Oxygen Bars

Oxygen bars were first popular in Japan and Europe before making their way to America where they gained popularity in the late 1990s and into this century. Patrons pay around 50 cents a minute to breathe oxygen through tubes placed in their noses, often scented with such fragrances as orange or eucalyptus. Patrons reportedly felt energized and alert after their oxygen sessions. The oxygen bar fad didn’t just stop there, but eventually spread to places like coffee shops, doctor’s offices, and day spas.

What made it hot: Celebrities were known to partake in these sessions, with Woody Harrelson even opening his own bar called O2.
What made it cold: Eventually people realized that they were paying to breathe air and looked ridiculous doing so.

6) Silly Bandz

Silly Bandz are rubber bands made of silicone rubber formed into shapes including animals, objects, numbers, and letters. They are distributed by BCP Imports and are normally worn as bracelets. Silly Bandz retail in packages with themes like princesses or animals.

 

What made it hot: They are cheap and easy to collect.
What made it cold: Realizing that your generation is getting stuck with one of the lamest fads ever.

7) Detox Diets

Way back in 1941, Dr. Stanley Burroughs began promoting his detoxification program that required followers to eat or drink nothing but his concoction of lemon juice, maple syrup, water, and cayenne pepper for anywhere from 10 to 45 days. Not surprisingly, this diet leads to many problems, including headaches, fatigue, diarrhea, and constipation. Proponents of this diet claim that the weight comes off quickly and they feel the toxins leave their body over the course of treatment. Many health professionals point out that drinking lemonade and not eating is just another form of starvation. Sure the weight will come off, but as soon as you begin eating again, the weight is sure to return. Hundreds of other detox diets have appeared since then, all claiming to help rid your body of toxins and help you lose weight. The truth is that there is no evidence that purging your intestines of “toxins” makes you any healthier or more likely to lose weight.

What made it hot: Lose weight fast. No more toxins!
What made it cold: Gaining 20 pounds after losing 8 during the detox.

8) Abbreviating Everything

We all know the common ones, LOL, OMG, TTYL. For words that have no common abbreviation, people most commonly remove the vowels from a word, and the reader is required to interpret a string of consonants by re-adding the vowels (e.g. dictionary becomes dctnry and keyboard becomes kybrd).

What made it hot: Laziness. Funny cats.
What made it cold: Unfortunately not cold yet. We’re still LOLing like there’s no tomorrow.

9) Hipster Glasses

Hipsters have brought us many gems, including hipster beards, hipster jeans, hipster owls, and the infamous hipster glasses. The most prominent type are characterized by large, black rectangular frames usually made of thick plastic. Variations on this look include other-colored and round frames. The purpose of wearing these glasses is not to correct vision but to look incredibly ironic and counter culture. For more tips on how to be a hipster, click here.

What made it hot: It’s so unique.
What made it cold: It’s so not unique.

10) The Kissy Face

The kissy face is the face girls make when their picture is taken. It involves pursing the lips and sometimes tilting the head up. This is commonly misunderstood as very sexy.

What made it hot: Myspace. Tweens.
What made it cold: Realizing you look like a duck.