- Matt Benedetto is a product designer who created a fake company that makes
products that solve unique problems. - These products solve problems you didn't even know you had.
- Each one is the perfect mix of a must-have gadget and one that makes you say, "I cant believe that exists."
Following is the transcript of the
Narrator: Avocado on a stick. A hands-free umbrella. How about a 100-foot-long phone-charging cable? These products seem almost too good to be true. And, in a way, they are. They aren't available in any store. They are all one-off inventions created by this guy: Matt Benedetto.
Matt Benedetto: So this invention is called the iDangle. I came up with this one while I was laying in bed watching Netflix. And, you know, I was holding my phone above my head. Slipped right out of my hand and just smacked me in the face.
Narrator: Matt, who is an actual product designer, decided to use his expertise to create over-the-top products that solve problems we didn't know we had.
Matt: It would attach to your ceiling, and then this is a suction cup that attaches to your phone and dangles the phone just a few inches over your face.
Narrator: You might have seen this next one before. Avocado on a stick, his streamlined solution to a millennial's love for avocados. All of his creations live on UnnecessaryInventions.com, the website he made for his fake company to convince people all the products are real. Except, again, they most definitely are not. So how does Matt create his unnecessary products that the internet can't resist?
Matt: A user on Reddit sent me this message, and it says: "Sometimes I like to finger comb my hair, but would prefer not to use my actual fingers. Do you think you could make a comb with fingers instead?"
Narrator: They all start with sketches and renderings. This is a base for the fingers. Matt then sends the
Matt: Oh, my God. So much better.
Narrator: Matt's process can vary depending on the product, but everything starts as sketches and 3D prints. The last step is always the photo shoot.
Matt: I really try and set up my photo shoot so that it looks like a real product. Just to kinda confuse people thinking, "No one would buy actually buy this, would they?"
Narrator: His products have garnered a large audience. People have even asked him where they can buy some of his inventions.
Matt: Some of my inventions do take a little bit of photo and video magic to kind of make them look like they might work a little better than they do. I created the DroneBrella when I had a friend that was complaining about trying to carry groceries, talk on the phone, lock their car, and do all these things at once while it was pouring rain out. So I thought, what would be the easiest, best way to kind of go hands-free?
So here we have the Cuisine Curtain. It is the perfect accessory for anyone that chews with their mouth open. You just simply attach it to your nose, and it perfectly covers your mouth if you want to continue chewing with your mouth open. After posting this online, I had thousands of comments of people saying, like, "Oh, I have an uncle at Thanksgiving that needs this." "I have a boyfriend." "I have this or that." Everyone seemed to have somebody in their life that chewed with their mouth open.
Narrator: And those are just a few. The Is It Hot tells you if your drinks are ready to drink or not. And the TP Pleaser is a toilet-paper roller for both people who like their toilet paper to roll under and people who like their toilet paper to roll over. Then there's the RealityCheck5000, which lets you know just how many people don't follow you on Instagram. Matt's reasoning behind his fake company is that he wants people to have fun seeing the products he makes among the other ads we're bombarded by. You can share your ideas with Matt on the Unnecessary Inventions website. It's where, he reminds us, they are definitely not available.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This video was originally published in July 2019.