Brand Failures

Idea failures 53
10 The Hot Wheels
computer
Stereotyping the market
A computer aimed specifically at children may seem like a good idea. Patriot
Computers certainly thought so, which is why they came up with the Hot
Wheels PC in 1999. These computers, which came with Intel chips and
Windows 98 software, were targeted primarily at the boys’ market and the
hardware was decorated with racing car imagery including the Hot Wheels
flame logo. In addition, Patriot Computers had made a deal with Mattel to
produce a Barbie computer aimed at girls. The boys’ computer was blue, the
girls’ was pink with a flowery pattern.
Both products flopped. One of the reasons, according to analysts, was the
crude attempt at gender marketing. Pamela Haag, director of research at the
American Association of University Women’s Educational Foundation, told
the Wall Street Journal that this type of marketing was ‘very out of step with
what adult men and women are doing, and therefore with what children want
– it really is anachronistic.’
Justine Cassel, professor at the MIT Media Lab and co-author of From
Barbie to Mortal Kombat, also thought the computers were crudely conceived.
‘Just because you cover a traditionally boy product with girlish clichés
doesn’t guarantee girls will like it,’ she said.
The computers were also criticized as bad cases of surface design trying to
save a standard product. ‘It was just a desktop computer with some stickers