The industrial design website, Core77, has recently introduced a sarcastic column about poorly-thought-out products called The Weekly Design Roast. Here are the links to the ones published so far: 1, 2, 3, 4.
“A conventional bookmark, which is just a slip of stiff paper, is too easy to ship and recycle; they also don’t use up enough materials or take up any additional desk space. To solve this, I designed mine out of lacquered ash.” [True story: This “bookmark” is “ideal for…books under 9 inches in height.” For differently-sized books, you can order their larger version in STEEL.]
“Only thing I don’t like is, since we have this against a wall, my wife has to climb through my blue water to get into her pink water. But other than that I am satisfied with my purchase.”