“The fact that Instant Pot is already being framed as a corporate cautionary tale—the company that went bankrupt bc they made a product so durable & versatile that its customers had little need to buy another one—instead of as a critique of capitalism is deeply, deeply depressing.”
I’m 98% sure this is a marketing ploy. Company faces bankruptcy because one of it’s top products doesn’t sell. So it complains that the reason is that it’s product is too good? That’s advertising. The element that will be studied in future by business students is how the company got anti-capitalists to spread the advert. The contradiction in this ploy is they customers will now be asking: what if I buy one and it does break but the company has gone bankrupt and closed?
Maybe it’s stats show that it mainly has new customers rather than repeat customers. That’s a poor endorsement, not confirmation that it’s products aren’t breaking. It suggests that is products aren’t being used enough to stress test them. And it suggests it’s a saturated market and these devices aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.
Edit: still, I agree we should use this as an argument to leave capitalism in the dustbin of history.
I was thinking the same thing. I have one of these. I never use it. I don’t recommend it to people. It’s not a good product. The idea that crock pots make their money by breaking fast enough is ridiculous.