Here are products that were supposed to be something else!
8 – Viagra A group of scientists working at pharmaceutical
giant Pfizer developed Sildenafil, or as the world knows it better, the little magic blue
pill called Viagra.
Sildenafil was originally invented as a treatment for hypertension, angina, and other symptoms
of heart disease.
However, clinical trials found that the compound had almost no effect on the heart or angina,
but quite an amazing side effect on the happiest area of the male body.
To explain it better, let’s just say that the male test subjects were experiencing a
rather unexpected side effect.
Someone in the marketing department figured out that that side effect would do much better
as a main effect, and Viagra soon went on sale across the globe.
The drug was patented in 1996 and approved for use by the FDA on March 27, 1998.
It was offered for sale later that year.
In 2008, Pfizer sold almost $2 BILLION dollars worth of this little blue pill!
That’s billions with a B!!
The patent has now expired and now there are plenty of drug companies that sell their own
generic version.
7 – Bubble wrap Two New Jersey engineers invented bubble wrap
back in 1957 by sealing shower curtains together and trapping air bubbles between them.
Now, why in the world would they wanna do that?
Weirdly enough, they wanted to sell their new invention as wallpaper.
I’m gonna guess that it didn’t exactly sell to too many housewives back then.
After an unsuccessful attempt at wallpaper, these guys thought up a marginally more successful
attempt to offload it as greenhouse insulation.
But it was when they thought to sell it to IBM as a packing material for computers that
things really took off for the appropriately-named Sealed Air Corporation which owns the brand
name of Bubble Wrap.
According to Sealed Air company legend, it wasn’t until IBM launched the 1401 computer
in 1959 that Bubble Wrap was first used for the purpose of keeping products safe in transit.
The patent for the wrap expired many years ago, so you're as likely to find yourself
idly popping "bubble pack", "bubble paper", or "bubble wrapping" as you are finding Bubble
Wrap these days.
One of the best uses of bubble wrap apart from being used to protect things in transit
is…...of course…..popping the bubbles to release stress, anxiety, and tension.
There are websites out there that provide a virtual bubble wrap program which displays
a sheet of bubble wrap that users can pop by clicking on the bubbles.
Interestingly enough, there’s even a Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day which is celebrated
every last Monday of January.
6 – Play-Doh Who doesn’t like Play-Doh?
The brightly colored clay that all of us grew up molding and poking and very likely stuffing
in our mouths when no one was watching, was first invented in the 1930s!
However, its inventor had a completely different plan for the product.
The non-toxic, non-staining, and reusable modeling compound that came to be known as
"Play-Doh" was concocted by Noah McVicker of Cincinnati-based soap manufacturer Kutol
Products.
It was devised at the request of Kroger Grocery, who wanted a product that could clean coal
residue from wallpaper.
Yeah, they used to clean wallpapers in the past because they didn’t have internal heating
so there was a lot of coal buildup on walls around houses.
However, with the transition from coal-based home heating to natural gas and the resulting
decrease in internal soot, as well as the introduction of washable vinyl-based wallpaper,
the market for wallpaper-cleaning putty decreased substantially.
So in order to save the company from bankruptcy, McVicker's nephew, Joe McVicker, joined the
company.
Joe McVicker was the brother-in-law of nursery school teacher Kay Zufall, and Zufall had
seen a newspaper article about making art projects with the wallpaper-cleaning putty.
Her students enjoyed it, and she persuaded Bill Rhodenbaugh, a salesman who sold the
putty, and McVicker to manufacture it as a child’s toy.
Zufall and her husband came up with the name Play-Doh; Joe McVicker and Rhodenbaugh had
wanted to call it "Rainbow Modeling Compound".
Who else is extremely happy that the name Play-Doh won instead?!
5 – Slinky Well, I guess some of the best selling things
ever have been discovered by a complete accident!
In 1943, Richard James, a naval mechanical engineer stationed at the William Cramp and
Sons shipyards in Philadelphia, was developing springs that could support and stabilize sensitive
instruments on ships in rough seas.
Obviously this guy was working on a pretty big work project here, and not on something
kids would be begging their parents for for Christmas.
James accidentally knocked one of the springs from a shelf and watched as the spring "stepped"
in a series of arcs to a stack of books, and to the floor, where it recoiled itself and
stood upright.
His wife Betty later said that James thought he could make the thing walk if he quote “got
the right property of steel and tension”.
James experimented with different types of steel wire over the next year and finally
found a spring that would walk.
His wife was skeptical at first but changed her mind after the toy was fine-tuned and
kids from the neighborhood went crazy about it.
She found the word Slinky in a dictionary – it means something sleek and graceful,
which basically was the perfect word that aptly described the metal spring “walking”
around on the floor.
In 1946, Slinky was introduced at the American Toy Fair and became a complete hit, with the
first 400 units selling out in about ninety minutes!
In its first 60 years the Slinky has sold 300 million units and it’s still a toy out
on the market today.
4 – Kleenex Kleenex was the first Western facial tissue.
Kleenex was introduced in 1924 and originally marketed as a way to remove cold cream or
makeup.
It was a disposable substitute for face towels or cotton wool, not for sticking our noses
in it when we have to clear our noses.
In 1925, the first Kleenex tissue ad was used in magazines showing quote "the new secret
of keeping a pretty skin as used by famous movie stars...".
They did overdo it a bit, cuz I mean come on, it’s just a paper tissue.
A few years after the introduction of Kleenex, the company's head researcher tried to persuade
the head of advertising to try to market the tissue for colds and hay fever.
The administrator declined the idea but then committed a small amount of ad space to mention
using Kleenex tissue as a handkerchief.
By the 1930s, Kleenex was being marketed with the slogan “Don’t Carry a Cold in Your
Pocket” and the rest is history – its use as a disposable handkerchief became the
norm.
3 – Coca Cola
Coca-Cola, one of the world’s most famous brand names, was originally invented as a
headache treatment and anxiety reliever.
Now it’s the sidekick to Jack and Cokes all over the world, and NO, PEPSI IS NOT OKAY!!!
Coke was invented in the late 19th century by John Pemberton.
He first invented a sweet, alcoholic drink infused with coca leaves for an extra kick.
Yeah, I bet those coca leaves gave it an extra kick.
The first Coke was called Pemberton’s French Wine Coca.
The modern name of the drink refers to two of its original ingredients, which were kola
nuts, a source of caffeine and coca leaves.
It would be another two decades before that recipe was developed further on.
Later on, the drink was bought out by businessman Asa Griggs Candler, whose marketing tactics
led Coca-Cola to its dominance of the world soft-drink market throughout the 20th century.
As it grew as a brand, Coca-Cola was gradually honed with carbonation and sweeteners to give
the world its most famous soda.
The current formula of Coca-Cola remains a trade secret, although a variety of reported
recipes and experimental recreations have been published.
2 – Listerine Listerine was invented in 1879, first as a
surgical antiseptic.
An article from 1888 recommends Listerine for quote, “sweaty feet and soft corns developing
between the toes."
Ugh.
Over the course of the next century, it was marketed as a cure for the common cold, as
a dandruff treatment, and interesting enough, as a refreshing additive to cigarettes.
Combining minty freshness with smoking, Listerine came out with their own line of cigarettes
in 1927.
Ironically, this was in the same era that Listerine marketed its products as being able
to prevent and alleviate sore throats and colds.
Can anyone come up with a better cure for a sore throat rather than inhaling some cigarette
smoke right?!
Presumably, these cigarettes were similar in effect to menthol cigarettes which were
being developed and marketed at the same time as “Spud Menthol Cool Cigarettes.”
Viewing these two products as competitors, it’s clear now which was the winner since
no one smokes Listerines.
1 – 7 UP 7UP started out with a weird name - I doubt
anyone would dig into a drink called "Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda."
Get me a glass of Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda, could you please?
Luckily, someone doing marketing for 7UP realized that that name wasn’t the best idea ever
so they went ahead and changed it.
7 Up was created by Charles Leiper Grigg, who launched his St. Louis–based company
The Howdy Corporation in 1920.
Grigg came up with the formula for a lemon-lime soft drink in 1929, and as the name implies,
the lemon-lime flavored drink contained lithium — a drug used in the psychiatric treatment
of people suffering from bipolar disorder.
The drink was launched two weeks before the Wall Street Crash of 1929.
I’m sure that didn’t help out sales!
The drink contained lithium citrate, a mood-stabilizing drug, all the way until 1948.
It’s even suggested that the "7" in the name refers to lithium's atomic mass and "UP"
could be to do with an improved mood.
Here’s what’s next!