I Love It, It’s Perfect, Now It Changes

I learned today that there's a concept called "feature creep" wherein a company "improves" a much-loved product, thus rendering it, well, not as good. Very interesting discussion in the Times today as folks lament the practice and mourn long-gone favorites.

I Love It, It’s Perfect, Now It Changes.

This phenomenon, generated by market forces, media hype and twitchy retailers, creates a cycle in which products are constantly improved even if they don’t need to be.

But the truth is, many consumers bemoan the incessant rush of innovation that pushes manufacturers to tamper with products the consumers feel are already perfect.

Is there a product you loved that you can’t find anymore?

Off the top of my head, yes:

1. Saucony Jazz women's running shoes, circa 1991. Best running shoes I've had.

2. Haagen Dasz carrot cake ice cream. No, really.

3. Trader Joe's lip balm in the red & yellow tube (don't remember the name), which was the PERFECT lip balm, now discontinued.

4. Democracy in America.

[pictured: Saucony Grid Jazz 11, not an improvement over the original, though I'm sure it's a perfectly nice shoe.]

Comments

[Skye]

I mention this on my mother's behalf, not my own, since I'd stopped drinking the stuff long before: Coke. New Coke was not an improvement. Then Coke Classic was brought out, but it was not the same. It contained corn syrup, whereas old Coke did not. I blame Archer Daniels Midland.

[arse poetica]

Skye, I blame ADM, too! The solution for your ma is to buy her Coke at the Mexican tiendas. They have *real* Coke in Mexico, and it is amazing comparatively; made w/ real sugar, not corn syrup.

[Mad Kane]

It drives me nuts, but I had no idea it was called feature creep. Good name for a crappy phenomena!