2017-06-03

It was Bob Dylan in 1965 who sang “there’s no success like failure”. The Nobel laureate may be the inspiration behind the Museum of Failure, which opens on Wednesday in Helsingborg, Sweden. More than 60 objects and services have earned a place in this pantheon of flops. They include Colgate-branded frozen beef lasagne; a Harley-Davidson perfume that smells of old leather; and a new take on Monopoly, “Trump: The Game”, with a box that proclaims “I’m Back and You’re Fired!” Created by Samuel West, who calls himself an “innovation researcher”, the museum will also offer tours, lectures and other “evening activities related to failure”. Mr West may be on to something. Fuckup Nights is a global movement that encourages entrepreneurs to share their failures in public. Launched in Mexico in 2012, it has regular events drawing audiences of hundreds in more than 150 cities around the world. Now that’s success.