Trump Digital Trading Cards and more of the weirdest, dumbest NFTs of 2022

by · December 16, 2022

2022 was not a good year for cryptocurrency.

“Crypto winter” is now in full swing after a series of unfortunate but not unexpected events: the collapse of the so-called stablecoin Terra, the bankruptcy of major crypto exchange FTX, and the failure of several crypto lenders such as Celsius. It seems that the entire market is basically in turmoil.

And of course, all this market uncertainty has hit NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, as well. For example, the largest NFT brand, Bored Ape Yacht Club, is trading now down 80 percent from the peak just eight months ago.

But that’s not the only thing hurting NFTs. Many online communities have come out strong against the idea of ​​tokenizing everything on the blockchain, effectively turning their favorite brands and hobbies into speculative assets.

Nevertheless, some brands are still buying into the NFT hype. And Mashable couldn’t help but look back at some of the more bizarre ones from the past year.

Donald Trump digital trading card

Number one on the list (and just below the thread as well) is the 45th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump.

In the final weeks of 2022, Trump posted on his social network, Truth Social, that he had one big announcement to make on December 15. His supporters all speculated that it must be something big for Trump to tease such an announcement. Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams guessed that since Trump had already announced his 2024 presidential campaign, this big reveal could be the presidential election announcement.

Low and behold, December 15th came and Trump announced… an NFT collection called: Trump Digital Trading Cards.

And it was great timing too! Donald Trump has decided to enter the NFT market in the midst of the biggest crypto downturn in years.

The Trump card collection includes 45,000 NFT pieces consisting of badly photoshopped depictions of the former president as a superhero and a professional football player, as well as riding an elephant and much more. Priced at $99 each, the Trump NFT collection includes a chance to win prizes such as a dinner with Trump, a group Zoom call with Trump, or “signed memorabilia.” If someone buys 45 NFTs — yes, $4,500 worth of NFTs — they receive a guaranteed ticket to a Trump gala event in Florida.

It’s all very strange and poorly timed, but once you see it infomercial Trump released when he announced the NFTs, you will find that it is very on mark for Trump as well.

Starbucks’ loyalty program (now with Web3!)

Coffee giant Starbucks has long offered rewards to its customers via its successful loyalty program. It’s pretty simple: Customers download an app and get exclusive offers, as well as earn food and drink rewards based on their purchases.

Then Starbucks decided to experiment with a new loyalty program…powered by NFTs.

The coffee chain started rolls out its Web3 rewards program, called Starbucks Odyssey, in early December. The new program on the Polygon blockchain appears to mostly gamify the old, pre-existing program. Instead of just buying your favorite drink and earning rewards, Starbucks wants customers to go on “journeys” and accept challenges from the company. For example, users can earn NFTs by going to a new Starbucks location that they have not previously visited. These NFTs act as “stamps” and each stamp has a certain number of points associated with it. Users can earn more points by completing challenges that earn them more NFTs or by trading NFTs on the secondary market.

Starbucks has not yet disclosed how many users are currently beta testing the program, but they shared that there was “tremendous interest” in Starbucks Odyssey.

Why just passively buy your morning coffee on the way to work when you can spend the day completing challenges and then speculatively trade NFTs on the crypto markets to earn that free latte?

But really, the year’s most incredible NFT-related Starbucks moment came in April. At a time when union campaigns were spreading across Starbucks locations across the country, CEO Howard Schultz tried to rally his employees during a company-wide meeting. Right there, in front of an audience watching live and livestream, Schultz thrilled announced that Starbucks was looking at entering the NFT space. His audience—the workers at his company—looked like they couldn’t care less.

NFT’s “R” us?

Who doesn’t remember Toys “R” Us?

If you’re reading this, it’s possible you have fond memories of going there yourself as a child. It was once the largest toy store chain in the United States.

Then in 2017, Toys “R” Us declared bankruptcy. Shops closed. In fact, some of the largest Toys “R” Us locations are actually still empty to this day. The company and its beloved mascot “Geoffrey the Giraffe” almost disappeared in the US for a while. There were attempts to bring the brand back as new management companies opened seasonal locations for the holidays over the years. A deal was eventually struck with Macy’s to initially open toy sections with the Toys “R” Us name in the department stores.

Oh yeah, and it’s Toys “R” Us NFTs now too.

Toys “R” Us began sell 10,000 NFTs with digital animation versions of Geoffrey the Giraffe toys that are apparently “inspired” by physical toys available in the company’s stores. According to the official website for the Solana-based NFTs, they all seem to be sold out.

Who is the market for NFTs, again essentially speculative volatile assets, from a toy store?

“I don’t want to grow up, I’m a Toys “R” Us kid,” went the lyrics to the earworm tune that was the Toys “R” Us theme song. So maybe this was more of a nostalgia play, trying to hook on the adult fans of the toy store who have fond memories of running down the aisles as children.

Still, the hook here, if not for pure speculation, includes exclusive discounts, in-store experiences and events for NFT holders. As a Twitter user discovered When asking about the NFTs at a brick-and-mortar store, Toys “R” Us employees are unaware of the program.

NFT sharks doo-doo, doo-doo

One can buy that Toys “R” Us NFTs are for adults who want to reminisce about good times at their favorite toy store. But what’s the deal with these Baby Shark NFTs?

Baby Shark became a viral hit for children through a version uploaded in 2015 by South Korean children’s entertainment brand Pinkfong. It inspired an endless series of products ranging from toys to TV series. There is no nostalgia effect here. The kids who grew up listening to Baby Shark are very much still kids.

Nevertheless, in November, Pinkfong announced it partnered with Toekenz, which bills itself as a “kid-friendly” NFT platform, to create a blockchain-based Baby Shark game “for kids ages 5 to 9.”

According to the announcement, Toekenz makes buying and selling NFTs a game for children. Kids will be able to earn “licensed digital tokens” while learning about cryptocurrency and NFTs.

Translation: Children under 10 years will speculate in securities. What will be next? Baby’s first day trading platform?

Your favorite music apps from the 90s are now selling NFTs

Who didn’t use the media player Winamp from the 90s? I bet just seeing that name takes you back to the good old days of Windows 98 and AOL dial-up.

Fast forward decades later to March 2022, and Winamp had its moment in the spotlight again. But not for a good reason. Winamp announced via Twitter that it was launch an NFT collection based on Winamp skins.

The reaction from the Winamp supporters was not good to say the least.

But nothing was more scathing than one from Justin Frankel, one of the original creators of the Winamp software.

“I’ve spent the last few years giving Winamp owners the benefit of the doubt,” Frankel tweeted. “No more. You’re terrible.”

Frankel went further on his site, deriding NFTs as a “negative sum ecosystem” where people are asked to buy in just so NFT promoters can dump on them and cash out.

Unfortunately, Winamp wasn’t the only beloved old-school internet audio relic to turn to the NFT darkside.

Remember Limewire? Sure, you might have downloaded a number of viruses while illegally downloading your favorite music. But you’ve probably also discovered a number of unsigned indie bands who wanted you to listen to their music.

Well, Limewire is basically just one NFT platform now. Downturn.

RadioShack goes edgelord to promote crypto

Speaking of zombie brands, RadioShack made waves over the summer, years after the company went bankrupt (twice) and essentially closed all of its retail locations.

Why? The official Twitter account of RadioShack, the electronics store that once sold your grandpa ham radios, started tweeting like a little 4chan wannabe edgelord.

“If You Find a Squirter, Marry Her,” RadioShack posted in June.

People started quickly speculating that the RadioShack handle had been hijacked by hackers. But, no, that wasn’t the case. The new owner, get-rich-quick internet marketer Tai Lopez, was just doing a little guerilla marketing for his re-branded RadioShack.

What is this re-branded RadioShack? Well, it still sells some electronics in its e-commerce store. But that doesn’t seem to be the only focus. RadioShack Hacks NFTs and Crypto Now. The company has rolled out its own cross-blockchain bridge to exchange crypto and launched its very own NFT collections.

What a bizarre turn of events for the store where you used to buy Duracell batteries for your RC cars.

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