5 Bizarre Side Hustles of Huge Corporations
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Amanda Mannen
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- June 24, 2024
In the conglomerate era, there’s still a few brands that do one thing really well. Coca-Cola is known for soda, Maybelline makes the best mascara, Metamucil is your go-to when you need an inside shower, etc. Wouldn’t it be weird if, for example, Metamucil started making headphones? Okay, you could call them Brown Notes, but what do personal electronics have to do with shitting?
That’s not all that unrealistic either — whether by greed or some CEO’s passion project, some companies have stepped way outside their lanes.
5Netflix’s ‘Experience Venues’
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Netflix’s ‘Experience Venues’
Netflix has announced that, in 2025, it will open “experience venues” (basically a theme mall) in Pennsylvania and Texas that will include restaurants and storefronts “tied to the streamer’s major franchises.” Hilariously, they will not include movie theaters. Here’s hoping the Squid Game experience isn’t too immersive.
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4Kellogg’s Streetwear
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Kellogg’s Streetwear
You know what urban youths love? Cereal. Well, maybe someone at Kellogg’s realized that wasn’t true and apparently decided that was the demographic they needed to capture, because in 2008, the company released a line of streetwear under the brand name Under the Hood. To be fair, in that party rockin’ year, a neon green hoodie emblazoned with the Sugar Smacks frog might pass for a hot ticket item, but sadly, the line folded within the year.
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3Target’s Forensic Labs
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Target’s Forensic Labs
Sorry, folks: ACAB includes Target. They hate shoplifting so much that they developed their own forensics lab so advanced that the actual police often turn to them for help solving criminal cases, including freaking murder. They really do have everything.
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2NASCAR Porn
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NASCAR Porn
Sure, there’s probably someone watching amateur videos of couples (or more) getting fast and furious on Pornhub as we type, but when NASCAR officially got into the porn business, it wasn’t for men. In 2007, they teamed up with Harlequin for a series of romance novels, some of which featured real drivers as characters. They actually produced dozens of titles before calling it quits around 2010, having apparently figured out what one publishing executive already knew when she commented, “I don’t know a whole lot of romance readers who love NASCAR.”
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1Hooters Air
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Hooters Air
In 2002, Hooters invested in a different kind of wings when it inexplicably opened its own airline. Despite having no business in such a business, it seems by all accounts to have been a legitimately good service, with “business-class style seating,” complimentary meals, and yes, Hooters girls on board. Unfortunately, a combination of hurricane-related fuel price spikes and competition from less luxurious airlines brought it down by 2006. It was simply too pure for this world.
