Recently visited the Museum of Failure. I can post something interesting from there every day for a month.
For instance, did you know that back in 1987, the toy company Fisher-Price released a video camera called PXL-2000, which used a standard audio cassette for recording. It could hold from 4 to 11 minutes of low-resolution black-and-white video (120×90, 2 colors (B&W), 15 frames per second) on each side of the cassette. Moreover, at maximum speed — up to 42 cm of tape per second. It cost 100 bucks back then — that’s about $269 today. By the way, it still costs that much on eBay. The cassettes could only be played on this camera too. Everything would have been fine, but the mechanism was so noisy that it spoiled the sound quality. Ultimately, the toy company deemed the product a failure and discontinued it.
Here’s another story. About Lululemon. For a long time, the symbolic product of this brand was black yoga leggings, suitable both for training and everyday wear. They cost about $100 — not cheap. The largest size was US 12 (or Eastern European 48). But at some point, there were complaints from fuller-bodied women that the leggings became very transparent when they bent over in yoga, revealing a striking view to those behind them, which was upsetting. The company’s founder, Chip Wilson, could not think of anything better than to say that the leggings were not intended for women with larger bottoms (ok, sizes), which many perceived as body shaming, and Wilson promptly received a full backlash. As a result, the company faced losses of $67 million, which was about a third of its market share, and eventually, this led to Wilson stepping down as head of the company. I won’t attach a photo of the transparent leggings from behind on a big bottom.
#museumoffailure
Hi, I'm Rauf Aliev. 