Difference between revisions 2278245 and 2278249 on enwiki

A '''flop'''  or '''product failure''' is a [[product (business)|product]] that doesn't reach expectations of success, failing to come even close. A major flop goes one step further and is recognized for its almost complete lack of success.

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* The [[Tanganyika groundnut scheme]], a plan by [[Clement Attlee]]'s [[British government]], financed by British tax-payers, to cultivate tracts of what is now [[Tanzania]] with [[peanuts]].

==Flops in science and engineering==

A scientific flop may be something that took years of man-hours and a lot of money to complete (or perhaps never completed) and ended in failure.


===Technical failures in aerospace===
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* The [[Brewster Buffalo]] - this [[World War II]] [[fighter aircraft]] turned out to be no match for [[Axis Powers|Axis]] fighters
* The [[Bristol Brabazon]] [[airliner]] - overweight, underpowered and prone to [[metal fatigue]]
* The [[Chauchat]] light machine gun - the French weapon of WWI was notorious for its unreliability, prone to jamming and lack of precision manufacturing.
* [[Cold fusion]] - after much hype, claims of success proved false. (Research into cold fusion continues.)
* The [[Europa rocket]] failed five times, without a single successful launch
* The German [[Maus (tank)|Maus]] tank was so heavy (188 tons) that it was unusable
* [[Project Mohole]] was a [[1950s]] proposal to drill through Earth's crust and sample the material below, but it was never implemented because in the mid-[[1960s]] the planners reaEuropa rocket]] failed five times, without a single successful launch
* The [[Messerschmitt Me 163]] was so dangerous that it killed more Luftwaffe pilots than Allized it was impossible.
* The British [[SA80]] rifle was notoriously unreliableairmen.
* Most reusable space vehicles: [[Shuttle Buran]], [[HOTOL]], various [[NASA]] space planes, arguably the [[Space Shuttle]].
* The [[Spruce Goose]] [[flying boat]], [[Howard Hughes]]' white elephant.
* The [[Tacoma Narrows Bridge]] collapsed due to [[resonance]] in a gale force wind.
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* [[Project Vanguard]] (1958), the first attempt by the United States to put a satellite into orbit. The project managers insisted on using a new, civilian-designed, purpose-built rocket. There were repeated embarrassing crashes. After Sputnik, it was quickly decided to use proven military missile designs as the base for future space attempts.

===Weapons===

* The [[Chauchat]] light machine gun - the French weapon of WWI was notorious for its unreliability, prone to jamming and lack of precision manufacturing.
* The German [[Maus (tank)|Maus]] tank was so heavy (188 tons) that it was unusable
* The British [[SA80]] rifle was notoriously unreliable.

===Scientific projects===

* [[Cold fusion]] - after much hype, claims of success proved false. (Research into cold fusion continues.)
* [[Project Mohole]] was a [[1950s]] proposal to drill through Earth's crust and sample the material below, but it was never implemented because in the mid-[[1960s]] the planners realized it was impossible.

===Civil engineering projects

* The [[Tacoma Narrows Bridge]] collapsed due to [[resonance]] in a gale force wind.
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==Political flops==
===USA Presidential campaigns===
*[[Lyndon LaRouche]] has run in every single election since his federal indictment.
*[[David Duke]], former Grand Dragon of the [[Ku Klux Klan]].
*[[Harold Stassen]], former [[United States Republican Party|Republican]] governor of [[Minnesota]], ran unsuccessfully for his party's nomination nine times, from [[1948]] to [[1992]].

===French elections===
*[[Lionel Jospin]]'s 2002 presidential campaign was such a flop he retired from politics.
*The unnecessary dissolution of a favourable parliament (''Assemblée nationale'') in 1997 by President [[Jacques Chirac]] should have presaged an easy win for his partisans. They lost, yielding power to the opposition.

===Canadian elections===
*[[Kim Campbell]] led the governing [[Progressive Conservative Party of Canada|Conservatives]] in the 1993 election campaign and succeeded in winning only two seats in the legislature.

===UK elections===
*Sir [[James Goldsmith]]'s anti-[[European Union|EU]] [[Referendum Party]] failed to win a single seat in the [[UK general election, 1997|1997 general election]], despite heavy publicity and a significant number of votes.

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*The [[UK Labour Party|Labour Party]]'s performance at the [[1983 UK general election|1983 general election]], led by [[Michael Foot]].  The manifesto was described as 'the longest suicide note in political history'.

==See also==

* [[product management]]
* [[management]]
* [[new product development]]
* [[product (business)|product]]