Richard Turen
I hope you will allow me to issue an apology to my clients, specifically the 17 couples whom I sent to Paris prior to May 17 this year. I want to include our readers in this apology, as well.
I disappointed all of you by failing to make note of an important exhibition at the Musee des Arts et Metiers that has now closed. I failed to advise my clients to see this masterful collection titled "Flops."
This collection highlighted hundreds of absolutely awful inventions, absurd prototypes and a string of signature commercial failures.
I can't make up for not knowing about this exhibition until it was over, but I want to aim for just a tiny bit of forgiveness by highlighting some of the things we would have seen had we attended this glorious collection at the museum in the 3rd arrondissement, on the edge of the Marais district. This is some of what my clients missed while standing in line at the Louvre.
There was, of course, a collection titled dangerous toys, the centerpiece of which was a Barbie on roller skates that, unfortunately, set rugs on fire in one's living room. It was taken out of production.
The Colgate toothpaste folks had tried to launch a frozen Colgate beef lasagna, but it never took off. It was a classic "Flop."
Whenever your travel company gets shy about innovations, it is important to learn that failure comes with the territory. Whatever you design as a travel model will likely be better than the exhibit that featured a warped ping pong table, so players could never be sure where the ball was headed.
One item on exhibit that drew in the crowds was the spray-on condom product that required a rather lengthy drying period after application. Consumers apparently saw this as a slight "logistical flaw."
The Bic pen "for women" drew laughter. They were pastel-colored. This bit of gendering did not go over well.
I think you get the point. This "Flops" exhibition served to illustrate one important principle that we might all take to heart as we try to embrace technology while recognizing that, in our industry, we will all be taking some chances, betting on the future.
The exhibition seems to show that failure and the risk of failure may be necessary before innovation truly succeeds.
There were numerous objects on display I would have loved to have seen. The masochist's coffee pot was, perhaps, my favorite. It resembles a traditional French coffeepot except for one crucial flaw: The spout is attached on the same side as the handle, facing inward toward the body of the pot, and the opening for pouring is blocked by the pot itself, making it impossible to tilt and serve. Too bad Starbucks missed this one.
In reviewing as many details of the exhibition as possible, I kept looking for something related to travel. The closest I could come was the travel anvil.
This was something of a parody of 20th-century mail-order catalogs. The anvil was made of wood and folded over. It was, of course, quite heavy, and it came with a hanging hook. It was designed for blacksmiths who needed to carry an anvil when traveling.
The exhibit, I am told, was well attended. Visitors sought out the Tho-Radia Radium Cream, a beauty cream from 1930 infused with actual radium. Sadly, it had to be taken off the market just seven years later when the dangers of radium were publicized.
The curved ping pong paddles and the "split" piano never made it to market, nor did the giant "killer darts," which proved to live up to their name.
I promise my clients that I will pay closer attention to museum offerings going forward.