【go down like a lead balloon】 —fail to have the intended effect; produce disapproval or disappointment:

• His jokes about women drivers went down like a lead balloon.

Note: The expression is not antonymous in meaning to the phrase balloon goes up, the—used when a situation suddenly becomes serious or critical:

• The balloon went up when I received a call stating that two foreigners had been detained by border guards.

【go down like ninepins】 —

1. be easily overcome:

• I was a jack of all subjects and a master of none but General Papers went down before me like ninepins.

2. fail in large numbers:

• During depressions business units went down like ninepins. The commercial banks of the time did little to help.