A Reddit user asked fellow commenters which brands they believed had gradually damaged their own reputations, prompting thousands of responses. The comments section read like an eulogy for the once-famous companies that used to be their favorites, and now they don't even look at them.
For some reason, HP was the first mention in the thread. "It's a hostage situation disguised as tech," one commenter wrote. A mandatory subscription is waiting for you if you purchase a printer. Cancel it, and the cartridges get remotely bricked. And if you use a third-party brand, the printer "throw[s] a digital tantrum and refuse[s] to work."
In an interview with RTM World, Enrique Lores, the CEO of HP, affirmed the commercial reasoning: "We lose money on the hardware. We make money on the supplies." According to HP's fiscal 2025 reports, total hardware units decreased by 12%, while printing net revenue decreased by 4% annually.
Nike was a surprise entry, as Jordans are some of the most coveted shoes. The commenter said that in just five years, the stock had dropped by 70%. They criticized Nike for focusing heavily on direct-to-consumer sales, reducing retail partnerships and relying on familiar product designs. "Relying too heavily on the same shoes, failing to innovate, and just letting other brands eat their market share," they wrote.
Competitors filled the shelf space that Nike had cleared. With a 26% decline in digital sales in the fourth quarter, full-year FY2025 revenues came in at $46.3 billion, a 10% decrease from the previous year. A predicted 20% decline in Greater China sales contributed to the stock's 15.51% decline in a single trading session by April 2026.
A number of Redditors mentioned Pizza Hut as one of their best memories ruined by consumerism. "Dimly lit, retro decorated, full service pizza joints," one commenter recalled of the 1990s version: good pizza, full dining rooms, customers who drove there on purpose. "The frog slowly boiled away," the commenter wrote. Year by year, those rooms closed.
The restaurant was replaced by a delivery service that competed with Domino's for the same Tuesday-night order on the same apps. "It's an interesting case study in how a brand can totally lose its identity and quality through a succession of small, defensible changes," they said.
System sales dropped to $3.47 billion in 2025 from $3.61 billion last year. U.S. same-store sales have now fallen for eight consecutive periods, according to Restaurant Business.
My local Pizza Hut still looks like this. Sadly, the pizza tastes terrible now and they're really stingy with toppings.
— Jere_Memez (@Jere_Memez) May 17, 2026
"If you tried a Pizza Hut of the nineties today, and compared it to their current offering, there would be no question: today is so much worse," the commenter wrote.
Several commenters also cited Facebook as a company they believe has changed significantly from its earlier years. "I used to see nothing but my friends' content," one commenter wrote. "Now it's just AI slop and nothing of value at all."
Cadbury came further down the thread. The board had rejected Kraft's hostile takeover bid, but institutional shareholders voted yes anyway.
While opinions varied, many commenters pointed to corporate acquisitions, subscription models and changing business strategies as reasons they believe once-popular brands have lost some of their appeal. The discussion continues on Reddit.
