Ah, what a lack of creativity. Something that looks like something else must be better than just something, so let's make it.

"Just for decoration" presents aren't nearly as bad as fake plastic fruit.

@summerbee: Now there's childhood trauma for you. It just looked so real...

This crap is what's filling up our landfills.

@summerbee: My parents always have had a bowl of fake plastic fruit, but never any actual fruit. It used to bum me out so much every time I visited them, where my craving for delicious fruit died unceremoniously.

@summerbee: I know! If you want plastic fruit, get real plastic fruit, not that fake stuff.

Fake fireplaces, which are actually natural gas flame heaters, would be another example of this. A friend bought a modern-day electric heater in the form of an antique looking, old-timey stove heater.

I find this kind of crap ridiculous as well -- examples of bad design.

@thewriteguy: But those are made by the AMISH! It makes them special and valuable, especially since the Amish will only let you buy two at the most!!! /sarcasm

This kind of thing is okay sometimes.

You like jokes, right? Think of this as a visual pun. Yeah, not everybody likes all jokes. Some visual puns appeal to certain demographics (females 18-35) more than they would to others (snarky Consumerist readers and writers).

If this were a robot shaped computer case, fewer people would have a problem with it.

I see this a lot in the creative arts/crafts ... I embroider, for example, and I think it's really weird when people try to embroider something to look like a photograph. Why not just TAKE a photograph, which is much quicker and cheaper if you want something that LOOKS like a photograph? Embroidery is to make things that look embroidered.

I suppose it's even weirder when people cross-stitch something to look like a quilt. For about the same amount of effort in the same general crafting arena, you could have just hand-stitched a quilt of the same size!

I feel the same weirdness from photorealistic painters. It's an incredible skill, but ... why?

In The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand pointed out that we make Classical buildings (think courthouses and banks) out of concrete that are copies of old Greek buildings in marble, that are themselves copies of still older buildings in wood.

I'm picturing Ben reading this post aloud while he types, using his best Andy Rooney voice.

You probably hate Trompe l'oeil, too. Lighten up. It's cute, to some people. I sent a cake made out of flowers to a diabetic friend - she loved it. Wilton, the cake decorating company, sells a pan to bake one giant cupcake out of a regular cake recipe. I've crocheted yarn to make it look like cupcakes. Taste (and a sense of humor) is subjective, my friend.

This morning, I was drinking my coffee and looking at a catalog I got in the mail, and one of the offerings was a butt-shaped piggybank. That farted when you put a coin in.

Oy.

Do you also complain about movie special effects?

I have seen the opposite of this before - fruit flowers. Not that I would want this or that.

It's a sneaker and a phone!!!!

And a link I forgot to add:

Dammit, third times a charm....

@summerbee: No, wax fruit was worse. It looked more realistic than the plastic. I left teeth marks in an apple.

I hate that crap.

What I really want is a green plastic watering can and a fake chinese rubber plant.

Do miniature sword letter openers count? I hate fake fruit, goofy containers, et all, but I really like my LOTR Sting letter opener.

@mantari: Though in my youth (demographic: females 9-12) candles that looked like food were all the rage. And, of course, you wouldn't dream of burning your beautiful ice cream sundae/hot dog/whatever candle.

The first time I saw these, I thought they were weird and a little tacky, ut I didn't view it as some ongoing social issue. What is wrong with making things look like other things? It's a treat.

Do you also complain about Christmas lights that look like snowflakes? Ice sculptures?

Oh, Ben. Put down the coffee. Or is that rum, made to LOOK like coffee?

I agree with the author....but that birthday cupcake flower thingy is SOOO CUTE!

/torn

And so what ever happened to candy sugar sticks made to look like cigarettes?

@econobiker:

For the most part, they are banned in the USA for promoting smoking among children.

The best ones where the gum ones wrapped in paper with some confectioner's sugar between the gum and the paper. You could blow pretend smoke with em!

To each their own, the cupcake example will probably delight a lot of people (and disappoint a few hungry ones). I took a industrial design course in university that touched on cultural colloquiam and they discussed this very issue (is it dishonest? bad taste?). Obviously the snobby designer may find that it breaks the whole "form follows function" ethic, but frankly, the true function of these products is not to sharpen pencils - for example - but to delight the child within us. Your hot dog pencil sharpener may break leads like crazy and not do a particularly good job, but it's cute and people get a laugh out of them. I know which one most kids would prefer.

@joellevand:
And it comes with the **HIGHLY COVETED** UL listing!!!!

@strathmeyer: I don't see it as a lack of creativity, rather a basic human need to stick with what is familiar.

Why not just TAKE a photograph, which is much quicker and cheaper if you want something that LOOKS like a photograph?

@Eyebrows McGee: Because you don't want something that looks like a photograph. That's not the point. The point is that your skills are good enough that you can embroider something that looks close to a photo. If someone is making embroidery that looks like a photo then they are probably working from a photo anyway.

You complain now but I bet all the stuff pretending to be other stuff was cool in all the James Bond films. If the flower cupcake was also a bomb would you make an exception?

@Groovymarlin: Win!

@summerbee: At least with the marble fruit you knew something was wrong the moment you picked it up. WAY to cold and heavy, but oh was it shiny!

Dammit, I saw that flower cupcake and immediately wanted one. Not a flower cupcake, just a regular one.

Too funny that my sister complained about the flower cupcake. She said it would just make her want a cupcake!

Humor is when you expect one thing and see/experience another. It catches us off guard and we find it "funny."

Puppy Flowers...
[www.krugerquarterhorses.com]

@The Name's Ash78, Housewares: and some fake plastic earth.

This is not a pipe.

@mantari: Exactly. At first glance, it looks like something, but it's actually something else. The same principle is the basis for many jokes.

@The Name's Ash78, Housewares: and fake plastic trees

The grass is always greener effect, I would say. The flower is not happy being just a flower, it thinks that being a cupcake would be so much more fun. Meanwhile, the cupcake looks at the flower with envy because flowers are graceful and elegant. 1-800-FLOWERS is trying to make a statement on the futility of the human condition and you just TOTALLY RUINED IT.

@TangDrinker: Having had that Wilton giant cupcake at my kid's birthday, I can heartily approve. It's adorable.

And I'm ordering that flower cupcake for my sick friend, out of spite. ;D

@speedwell: Or for that matter, photographs?

@Ragman: My hubby would probably like one of those (especially since I'm hesitating to hang our full size Sting in the family room...). Where can I get one?

Does this post remind anybody of the cupcakes baked in ice cream cones?

@j-o-h-n: LMAO, I just saw an ad for one of those last night.

@Eyebrows McGee: "Why not just TAKE a photograph, which is much quicker and cheaper if you want something that LOOKS like a photograph?"

My friend's uncle painted a baby portrait of her that looks as real as a photograph. I wouldn't go up to him and say "Pff, way to waste time!" I would compliment him on his amazing ability. The portrait now hangs in their den, and everyone who sees it is immediately intrigued at how great a painting it is. Much better conversation starter than "Nice photograph."