The Frozen Colgate Meals That Deserved To Fail

If you find yourself a busy working bee yet still enjoy coming home and eating dinner, frozen pre-made meals might be stocked in your freezer. Once the process of freezing packaged fish was invented in 1925, the availability to freeze and reheat food was revolutionized (via Smithsonian). Fast-forward two decades later when the first frozen dinners were sold and marketed to airlines in 1945, and more people were getting their hands and tastebuds on the convenient pre-made frozen meals. Once the '50s hit, companies were jumping on board by advertising these easy-to-heat meals on TV, and hence, the name "TV dinner" was born (via Smithsonian).

With decades of work mastering frozen meals, there are now thousands of frozen-dinner options to choose from when browsing your local grocery store. From classic dishes like steak and potatoes to stir-fry noodles, there's always something for anyone looking to heat and eat a meal quickly. Because of the quick rise in popularity over the decades, some companies tried to jump on the trend and have a piece of the money pie. While Swanson, Banquet, and Hungry-Man saw success, other companies saw epic failures. One of the most notable failures in the industry came from Colgate.

When you hear the name Colgate, what comes to mind? For a lot of people, it might be toothpaste. That's because Colgate is one of the most recognized companies when it comes to household, health care, and personal care items, most notably through its oral care products like toothbrushes and toothpaste. When the company came out with a frozen food line in the '80s, its managers hoped to hop on the bandwagon when it came to easy frozen "TV dinners." 

Unfortunately, the business venture was a failure of epic proportions (via USA Today). Advertisements for Colgate beef lasagna were among the worst it could get, with too many people associating the household brand name with brushing your teeth. After all, if you've long associated a brand name with the taste of toothpaste, it's unlikely to sound the least bit appetizing.

What's weird about Colgate's ultimate frozen pre-made meal fail is that the company refuses to admit they tried to launch a food line (via Lethbridge News Now). With a box of Colgate's Beef Lasagna currently sitting in The Museum of Failure in Sweden, Colgate's legal team still refutes any mention of the company's failed frozen food line. Whether it's true or not, Colgate's failed attempt at making food should be a sign to companies everywhere to just stay in their own lane.