Photo: NBC/”Saturday Night Live
Bet you wish you were smart enough to invent stupid crap people don’t need and somehow get filthy rich off it, right? When it comes to get-rich-quick schemes in the modern day, it’s not exactly Thomas Edison screwing in the first light bulb. It’s more like creating an app that delivers a series of food-related fart noises, then charging people more for that than you would a light bulb.
We live in a wasteful world where plastic bottled water grosses more than $60 billion annually, and people buy rock (yes, buy) to have as pets because they can’t not kill their plants and overfeed their fat cats. From Chia Pets and Pet Rocks to Shake Weights and Snuggies, we’ve got the big money-making inventions here, stupid crap for stupid people that get you filthy rich in a blink.
If you want to cringe at your $35K a year desk while reading about jerk offs who made a boat load and are living the good life off animatronic singing bass, then you’ve come to the right place.
9 Clever People Smart Enough to Invent Stupid Crap And Get Filthy Rich
And speaking of inventions: These Futuristic Inventions Look Very Dangerous
Clever Inventors With Stupid Inventions
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Johann Verheem - Shake Weight
A jerkoff gag (pun very much intended) gift that went viral, despite most trainers denying its ability to help you shake your weight, reportedly made $40 million. Inventor Johann Verheem said there was no intended sexual innuendos attached at the start. Yeah right, and people who bought it use it to work out. Now watch the hilarious SNL ad spoof.
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Joe Perdott - Chia Pets
Photo: Amazon
Joe Pedott’s Chia Pets have been around since 1977, selling more than half a million sold each holiday season alone. This marketing whizz is also the man behind Garden Claw and The Clapper, amongst others. At 16 bucks a pop and half a mil sold during every Christmas season, you do the math.
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Gary Clegg - The Snuggie
Screenshot: Snuggie/YouTube
What started as a dorm room sleeping bag turned into the two sleeve Slanket. This guy sold 20 million at 20 dollars each in his first year alone.
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Gary Dahl - Pet Rocks
Photo: via storify.com
Rocks are fairly inexpensive. This genius put them boxes and sold a manual on how to care for them. They sell for $4 each, grossing him $3 per rock. Dahl reportedly earned $15 million in his first six months.
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Scott Stillinger - Koosh Balls
Photo: via thefw.com
If you couldn't catch a ball to save your life, Scott Stillinger was your hero. Of course, that little rubber idea sold for $100 million in 1997, back when money wasn't so fucking cheap.
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Joe Pellettieri - Big Mouth Billy Bass
Your parents probably thought they were "just the cutest thing," didn't they? Pellettieri came up with the idea, which sold more than a million in 2000. I mean, who doesn't want an animatronic singing fish in their living room?
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"Eric Nakagawa and Kari Unebasami - Icanhascheezburger
Photo: Flickr
Their site garnered 35 million hits a month, so they sold to Ben Huh for $2 million. Well, Huh turned that into multiple sites, along with a New York Times best selling deal, and now he has 75 or so employees with a $30 million product line. Smart enough to invent, stupid enough to sell.
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Ty Warner - Beanie Babies
Photo: via dailytoast.com
Ty Warner’s name might look familiar if you remember Ty Inc., the tag on all your Beanie Babies. He’s worth $2.4 billion now. Yeah, with a “B.”
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Joel Comm - iFart App
Photo: via kiddingkid.com
This weirdo thought to make a Whoopie Cushion for your iPhone AND charged for it. Sadly, he was right because people definitely paid for it. It made $400K. Who says farts can't be serious?
