Before this list of insane Kickstarter campaigns can start, we need to clarify how we have measured the projects. When looking at how “crazy” a Kickstarter project is, we took into account the following three aspects:
1. The ridiculousness of the product itself – how likely is it that people would use or want this?
2. The craziness of the campaign itself (video, texts, images, rewards) – Is the project overarching into the campaign making it just as crazy as the product.
3. The success or failure of the project – Did the project succeed even though it sounds insane? Did it fail in a spectacular fashion adding to greatness of the project as a whole?
Once we took all of these aspects into consideration, we could judge some projects hire than others.
10. Anti-Zombie soap
If you ever wanted a soap to protect you from having your skin devoured in a zombie apocalypse then this was the project for you. With a very small funding goal, the project managed to pull through at the tiny amount of 317 from 37 backers. If you like, many of us normal people want to take every precautions you can to stay, safe this will be a great addition to your survival kit. The campaign is not as ridiculous as it’s product, informative and straightforward but where it really takes another kick is the video. What looks to be filmed using a microwave shows us one girl being attacked by a man with a mask who proceeds to snuggle at her stomach. Don’t be alarmed she uses the power of the soap to get the power to push the masked man away from her which renders him unconscious. Wait, is this soap like the new pepper spray?
9. Emoji Dick
We are not sure how proud Melville would have been to see his classic turned into a drunk text-message mess of emojis. Emoji Dick is a translation of Moby Dick into Japanese emoji icons using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. The project just made it into production passing their $3,500 funding limit. Here’s an example of how the translation would look.
As you can tell the book has a very small niche market. We have to admit that we send emojis sometimes to represent something else…mostly it’s in a combination with sexting so maybe we should relate this project to that? The campaign is short but descriptive with images, the rewards are not that crazy and promises exactly what you would expect. The video presents what sounds like a nervous man providing a voice over while we see a shit ton of emojis and get to hear how he will spend the money hiring people to translate all the 6000 plus sentences into emojis.
8. Lionel Richie’s head, inflated
Hello, is it an giant inflated head you’re looking for? This kickstarter was created as an art project for a music festival called Bestival. “This will be a fully immersive, slightly surreal and very personal experience. As people enter one at a time, they will discover at the core of Lionel’s Head lies a telephone. When a person answers the phone, they hear ‘Hello, is it me you’re looking for?’” This head is now supposed to travel around the world and entertain people at festivals. The best part of the campaign is the video which starts by introducing the artists at bestival festival, introducing Snopp Dogg, Elton John and Lionel Richie’s head. The video introduces the creators from Hungry Castle who present their project and cutting in scenes from Lionel Richie’s music videos. Quote of the video:” Last year we tried to make Lionel Richie’s head don Kickstarter and we failed. But we didn’t give up, did Lionel Richie give up stalking that blind girl? Hell no!”
7. Five O’clock Shadow’s
Who doesn’t like hugs? 5 O’clock Shadow’s is a functional beard face mask with cotton-poly lining and elastic straps that hugs your face. Considered a winter necessity by the creators they found many backers who wished to stay warm during the cold season. The 5 O’clock Shadow’s just past their goal of $3000. The campaign is shallow in terms of information. With less noise and more straight to the point, what we see is what we get, and what we are seeing is pretty funny. The video contains little over a minute of soft music and text while we see people having their face hugged. The rewards are equally on the head and gives us the bare minimum.
6. Poop in a bag and Poop the game
Why don’t you send Poop in a bag to your best friend? Poop in a bag contains the updated version of the card game that presents itself in the following manner. “Kids love it because of the silly designs and opportunity to make poop jokes. Adults love it because POOP makes them act like kids.” A total of 282 backers was enticed by the games outrageous name and characteristics which brought the project to life. The campaign video is awesome, opening with a shitty version of a hip hop music video it tells you to, “Ship poop in a bag to your friends…they’ll love it…because it’s poop in a bag.” The rewards are also great as they interact with the pledgers: “HIGH FIVE! o/o You acknowledge that we exist and we acknowledge your own existence by locking eyes and slappin’ fives. (Digitally of course.)”
5. PAUL – The Sexiest Smartphone Charger on the Planet
This one speaks for itself; smartphones are a sexy piece of technology so why not have a charger that’s just as sexy? “Paul is a sarcastic piece made in response to the current popular trends in social and mobile technologies. It is a functional iPhone charger design object that explores modern technology’s affect on human sexuality.” The project features a docking station in the pelvic are and a retractable wall charger aka a “but plug” that you connect to the wall to provide Paul with electricity. The campaign is almost takes itself too serious while the video certainly does. Features a woman careesing PAUL before she docks her iPhone to charge, she then licks the docked iPhone while a voice over explains why we should donate our money. The project didn’t fully reach is goal but had an enthusiastic run!
4. World’s largest jockstrap
Probably the project with the most clear mission statement on this list: “$850.00 needed to submit the World’s Largest Jockstrap measurements to Guinness.” And Michael did get his $850 with only $4 to spare for a total backer sum of $854. Michael had to get Guinness to accept “The World’s Largest Jockstrap” as an official event before he could begin his project. The requirements for the world record forced Michael create jockstrap at least 10 times larger than an existing one. The campaign and success of the project is not much to hang in the closet. We get to watch a 3D version of a jockstrap spin around and around while a voice over explains very unenthusiastically why $850 is the magic number for the project. The rewards and the text of the campaign are bare minimum and as equally enthusiastic as the video.
3. Bear Senpai: Date The Bear of Your Dreams
So first of all let’s just look at this rationally, you want $13,000 to create a dating computer game where you get to romance and date a bear…how could this not be on the list. Lets look at what the project owner said: “Are you tired of limited dating options in games? While games pretend to offer a variety of dating options, most of them are really, just the same character over and over. Bipedal, house-dwelling, eats-with-silverware humanoids.“ Who wants someone that eats with silverware? House-dwelling is clearly boring so this must have hit a homerun? Interestingly enough it almost made its mark with a whopping 176 backers it gathered $13,641 out of the $18,000 goal. Too bad that this project didn’t have a crazy project video to accommodate the funny campaign text and project concept.
2. The Book of Rah – The Greatest Book You’ve Never Read
Have you ever read a book that is so mischievous that it would take your virginity if you read it? Neither have we, and we are pretty sure that this self-proclaimed “greatest book” can’t biologically succeed with that either.
The project has probably the simplest product on the list, a book, and no matter how crazy, it’s still just a book. What makes this Kickstarter hilarious is the campaign itself. This is the only project that is ridiculous whether it’s the video, the text or the rewards, a total customer experience. Pledge 1 dollar and the following is promised: “I will whisper your name in the ears of a baby sloth the next time I kidnap one from the zoo.”
The video starts out with the author opening a bottle of champagne with a knife and then it’s just downhill from there. According to the project you should go support it because: “This book is like drinking yourself into oblivion and waking up without an hangover.” Both the campaign text and the video are a little long and we understand it’s there to be entertaining but you don’t force feed us jokes. With only 10% funded, the project is trending towards a failure but it still got plenty of time left.
1. Twerk Island A Real Contest Movie
This has to be the craziest Kickstarter idea/campaign ever. Given the criteria’s, that we’ve rated the projects on this has to be our number one pick. No project has cared so little and yet asked for so much. For the tiny sum of €1,000,000 this Kickstarter would produce the greatest twerking movie of all time. According to the creator, the movie would be about: “A Famous Rich Girl organising a World Championship Twerk / Dance contest with twenty top Dance groups and DJ’s( Real ).”
The movie brought in a whopping € 30 and failed spectacularly. The movie had terrible backer rewards that under-delivered and were overpriced. The film for the project is a one-second picture of an island with the words “Twerk Island” super imposed on it. Lastly, the project has stated that it “will also be broadcast During the week by MTV.” I highly doubt that MTV was onboard or even informed for that matter.
Other honourable mentions…
Honourable mentions that can be interchanged with our list:
Grilled Cheesus:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/852445514/grilled-cheesus
Edible Biodegadable Cups:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thewayweseetheworld/jelloware-biodegradable-edible-cups?ref=live
World’s Longest Marble run:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/meandermind/building-the-worlds-longest-marble-run-relaunch?ref=category
Yorkies briefs:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/yorkies/yorkies-brand-briefs-for-men-who-are-going-places
Doctor Who Rap Album:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/371528925/i-am-the-doctor-a-doctor-who-concept-album/description
A Chicken Burrito:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1613730240/graphing-the-deliciousness-of-a-chicken-burrito
