My guess is that the "harbingers of failure" are just anti-popular-item folk. They like an item because other people (read: the huge market a company actually

My guess is that the "harbingers of failure" are just anti-popular-item folk. They like an item because other people (read: the huge market a company actually wants) don't like it, or because it's "different." Not because it has actual inherent new value, or actually tastes good. Perfect setup for failure -- tons of people dislike your product, and the only ones who like it are the ones who like it because others don't. Cases in point my guess are Crystal Pepsi (as the article uses), another is Zima[1], a third is Orbitz[2]. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zima http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zima [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbitz_(soft_drink) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbitz_(soft_drink)