[robocat]

Called the Harbinger Effect

  the same group of consumers has an outsized tendency to purchase all kinds of failed products, time after time, flop after flop

You really don't want these people as customers:

  In a key part of the study, the researchers studied consumers whose purchases flop at least 50 percent of the time, and saw pronounced effects when these harbingers of failure buy products. When the percentage of total sales of a product accounted for by these consumers increases from 25 to 50 percent, the probability of success for that product decreases by 31 percent. And when the harbingers buy a product at least three times, it’s really bad news: The probability of success for that product drops 56 percent

https://news.mit.edu/2015/harbinger-failure-consumers-unpopu...

[Terr_]

And then you get sales channels designed specifically to sell short-term cheap thing to such folks, which reminds me of As Seen On TV.

[fransje26]

> As Seen On TV.

Always a great cue to instantly stop considering a product.

[hyperdimension]

"Wasn't successful on TV"

[dpkirchner]

Sounds like a market opportunity to me!

[akoboldfrying]

Fascinating (and, dare I say it, pretty funny too).

[hoseja]

Cause, effect.