If at first you don’t succeed, submit it to the Museum of Failure.
A brand-new gallery dedicated to retail objects which have bombed commercially opened earlier this month in Brooklyn’s Industry City complex.
The Museum of Failure collects “failed services from world wide,” according to its website, offering what it calls a “fascinating learning experience” into failed innovation.
“Every item provides unique insight into the dangerous business of innovation,” continues the location. “The museum goals to stimulate productive discussion about failure and encourage us to take meaningful risks.”
The Museum of Failure showcases greater than 159 retail items that didn’t quite take off, including the infamous and much-reviled Google Glass and the ill-fated DeLorean automotive, which was made famous by the “Back to the Future” franchise.
Other items that made the museum’s not-so-hallowed halls include 1985’s Coke II — also often called Recent Coke and revisited in Season 3 of the mid-’80s-nostalgic Netflix series “Stranger Things” — in addition to the 2003 Nokia N-Gage smartphone, which despite its failure within the US helped jump-start Finland’s mobile gaming industry.
Also within the sideshow of shame: Bic for Her pens, which were released in 2011 and whose only difference from other writing instruments was they were sparkly, brilliant colours.
Google Glass failed when consumers raised issues in regards to the item’s price and lack of safety and privacy.Museum of Failure
Bic for Her pens were released in 2011 and make an appearance within the exhibit. Museum of Failure
The exhibit was curated by Dr. Samuel West, who holds a Ph.D. in organizational psychology and is a licensed psychologist.
The largest obstacle to innovation, in line with West, is the dread of defeat, which served as his inspiration for the traveling exhibit.
“My research is targeted on helping organizations to be more progressive. And certainly one of the massive obstacles to innovation is the fear of failure,” said West told CBS Recent York recently. “So I used to be fidgeting with this concept: How can I communicate the research findings and the importance of accepting failure?”
Heinz EZ Squirt ketchup failed after parents reportedly realized they adding more chemicals and processing to other processed foods. Museum of Failure
The Nintendo Power Glove, developed in 1989, failed after it was deemed too difficult to make use of. Museum of Failure
Crystal Pepsi had a transient shelf life — in addition to a few reappearances — until consumers complained it tasted too very similar to its normal counterpart.Museum of Failure
“It felt very ‘on brand’ for us,” Jim Somoza, managing director of Industry City, said of housing the bizarre display. “We take a variety of risks doing a project like this and we have now had a variety of tenants which can be entrepreneurial who take a variety of risks and who’ve had their fair proportion of failures, but which have changed into successes, and it felt right.”
Tickets for the exhibit — set to run through May with a possible extension going into June — can be found for purchase on the museum’s website.
