Samuel West poses with a stainless bicycle... that was useless for walking
"We are always bragging about our successes, but we forget what e most of our personal and family life are failures . And nothing happens. Its normal. I think it is important that there is a museum that claim that message ", comments Samuel West, ideologue of the project, to Verne.
By email he tells us that the idea of giving the green light to this picturesque collection came to him after visiting the ** Museum of Broken Relationships ** in Zagreb (Croatia). "I have been researcher of psychology of organizations and innovation for seven years" (the same ones, by the way, that he has been collecting "failed" objects).
Harley Davison's cologne was also not very successful...
"Everyone in the business world knows that 80% to 90% of all projects that innovate fail, but the companies only talk about their successes," he continues. "The scientific literature is very clear: companies need to be better at learning from their mistakes. The Museum of Failure is my way of encouraging leaders of small and large organizations to look at mistakes with different eyes."
For this, West has carried out a compilation of products that range from ** Coca Cola Bla k ** (a launch of the well-known soft drink mixed with coffee, and according to what is said, with a taste so unpleasant that a presenter spat on her live just try it) until a machine that is used to read tweets and that shows only a third of each (!) But, among so many disappointing ideas, which is West's favorite?
A slightly... gloomy massage
"It's hard... I love all the items that will be on display! I prefer the more complex ones, the ones with an interesting history, like the sony beta max . It failed not only because of competition from VHS, but also because Sony refused to provide the manufacturing license to other companies and why they didn't want the porn industry to use Betamax. And people wanted to watch porn at home! I am also struck by the electric rejuvenation mask : you put it on your head and it gives you electric shocks to your face. It's stupid," says the curator of the gloomy invention.
On June 7th, organizations and individuals will have the opportunity to know each of these great failures in one place . The objective? "That visitors leave inspired and wanting to try new things. When they see these respected companies fail, I hope they understand that there is nothing wrong with doing so. Failure is another way of saying you tried. I also hope to inspire people outside of the business world to feel that Failure is not so bad if you treat it as an opportunity to learn. ".
Even Coca-Cola is wrong (and in 2006!)