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The Worst Product Ever

2019-05-10 · explainer · Hank · 3:56 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Science & nature · mode: Personal essay · tags: punishment or challenge, self promotion, community lore

Using the failed FlexPlay self-destructing DVD from a Technology Connections video, Hank argues that we judge waste by perceived value and novelty rather than material: a 16-gram DVD is no worse than a Coke bottle, so disposable DVDs are not okay but neither is shrugging off everyday plastic.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Technology Connections and the FlexPlay DVD: how it worked and the backlash

  • ★★ Hank is a big fan of the YouTube channel Technology Connections, about the bits and pieces that make the world work, and says its FlexPlay video is super worth watching. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ FlexPlay DVDs were rentals that need not be returned: sealed in an airtight bag, once opened a chemical reacted with oxygen and made the disc unplayable after two days. — 00:00:00
  • ★ Hank has the very DVD used in the Technology Connections video: he DM'd its maker, who sent it so Hank could do an experiment. — 00:00:29
  • ★★ FlexPlay was hated as extremely wasteful, a whole DVD made to be destroyed; there was a ton of backlash and people protested outside stores that sold them. — 00:00:29
  • ★★★ Hank says the FlexPlay backlash was actually fine, but the product gives great insight into how we imagine waste and why we do a bad job of it. — 00:00:29

00:00:58 — Weighing experiment: the DVD against everyday disposable plastic

  • ★★ Hank weighs the FlexPlay DVD at 16 grams and sets it beside the plastic that shipped his Metamucil from Amazon, a vitamin-named sugar water bottle and a coffee cup from his garbage. — 00:00:58 · Amazon

00:01:27 — Two reasons we misjudge waste: DVDs are taught as valuable, and new things are easier to question

  • ★★★ Although plastics differ in resource costs and lifespans, Hank asks why our brains freak out about throwing away a DVD but not a plastic cup. — 00:01:27
  • ★★★ First reason: we have been taught DVDs are valuable; FlexPlay's inventors saw them as what they practically are, a container holding media like a bottle holds sugar water. — 00:01:27
  • ★★ DVD sellers presented them as near-luxury, though DVDs are far less resource intensive than VHS tapes; their oversized sturdy cases use far more plastic than the disc itself. — 00:01:56
  • ★★★ Second reason: novelty. People freaked out about plastic for bottled water but never equally about bottles of Coke, a product far worse for humans and the environment than water. — 00:02:26
  • ★★ Hank says Coke is just water with a lot of really resource-intensive mega crops put in it. — 00:02:26
  • ★★ After the backlash, much bottled water now comes in thinner bottles with smaller caps, while Coke still uses fancy, thicker bottles to suggest a high-quality experience. — 00:02:55
  • ★★★ We rebelled against bottled-water plastic because whatever was normal when we were kids seems just the way things are; new things are easier to question. — 00:02:55

00:03:24 — Conclusion (a DVD is a Coke bottle), fake sponsor gag, over-four-minute punishment notice, Hank's Channel plug

  • ★★★ Hank says disposable DVDs are not okay, but we should think about throwing away a DVD every time we buy a Coke, since in waste terms they are about the same. (hedged) — 00:03:24
  • ★★ Hank says he accidentally uploaded a Hank's Channel video to Vlogbrothers that ran over four minutes, so he has another punishment brewing. — 00:03:24 · hankschannel, Vlogbrothers, Four-minute rule, Punishment
  • ★ Hank invites viewers to Hank's Channel for a more in-depth conversation about the environmental footprint of these objects and materials. — 00:03:24 · hankschannel

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: DVD · Flexplay

Also: Projects: hankschannel

Organizations: Amazon · Technology Connections

Rituals: Four-minute rule · Punishment

Concepts: bottled water · polycarbonate · status quo bias

Products: Coca-Cola · Metamucil · VHS · Vitaminwater

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