How museum gift shops decide what to sell

And how what’s in a gift shop affects how we see art.

Subscribe and turn on notifications (? ) so you don't miss any videos: http://goo.gl/0bsAjO

Gift shops are like the final exhibit of an art museum. They’re often located toward the exit and are unmissable on your way out the door. Souvenirs inside can range from Vincent Van Gogh socks to giant stuffed soup cans to Mona Lisa rubber ducks. But how do gift shop curators decide what to sell?

Stocking decisions often revolve around how curators want visitors to perceive the art lining museum walls. When you see a certain piece of art on a lot of merchandise, that usually means curators think that artwork is important. And thanks to a psychological phenomenon called the mere-exposure effect, the more you see that art, the more you begin to think it’s important.

Read more about this from Micaela Marini Higgs at Vox: https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2018/11/7/18072114/museum-gift-shops-art-money

Additional links:
https://www.metmuseum.org/
https://philamuseum.org/
https://npg.si.edu/

Vox.com is a news website that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines. Check out http://www.vox.com.

Watch our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/IZONyE
Follow Vox on Facebook: http://goo.gl/U2g06o
Or Twitter: http://goo.gl/XFrZ5H

Próximo episódio

S01E1260 - Texas's power disaster is a warning sign for the US