For the many household items that fill store shelves, we should thank the marketers and testers who changed the original idea of the product. Introducing you top 5 things that are not used as intended.
5. Vaseline
The oily liquid is usually applied to the skin and lips to soften and moisturize them. But the creator of Vaseline had a slightly different concept. He wanted people to eat Vaseline.
This product came about when American oilmen were cleaning up a strange, sticky sludge from drills and decided "what if this substance can be rubbed into the skin for burns and cuts?" Chemist Robert Chesbrough, communicating with oil workers, saw what they do with Vaseline and how this remedy works successfully on abrasions, scars and burns. He soon began to travel around New York, burning his skin with acid and rubbing the wound with "oil jelly" in front of an admiring crowd.
Cesbro did not stop there. He insisted that eating a spoonful of Vaseline every day is good for your health and vitality. Modern science suggests that taking Vaseline internally will not end well. To be fair, we add that Cesbro lived to be 96.
4. Corn flakes
According to statistics, the main consumers of corn flakes these days are preschool children. But in the beginning, this product was intended for "lustful" adults.
John and Will Kellogg, the creators of cornflakes, owned a sanatorium where they came to improve their health. The brothers were strict Seventh-day Adventists, and they had very unusual ideas about how to cleanse not only the body but also the soul of the clients.
Dr. John believed that sex was an unclean and harmful activity, including sex between husband and wife. John and his wife slept in separate bedrooms to resist temptation. And the worst sin for John was masturbation. He specifically formulated cornflakes as the least sexy food without sugar and spices. After all, these products, according to Kellogg, kindled lust in people. He fed cereals to his patients, believing that their mild taste would suppress their sex drive.
John then tried selling cornflakes as a baby breakfast, hoping that a generation of children around the world would get bored with sex. Hardly anyone would have bought this "chaste" food, if not Will Kellogg, who added sugar to the cornflakes. This infuriated John so much that he sued his brother.
3. Bubble wrap
In fifth place in the ranking, everyone's favorite bursting bubble wrap (chpoker), invented by Alfred Fielding and Mark Chavan in 1957. It was not originally conceived as a package for parcels. The film was supposed to be a high quality soft wallpaper.
But Americans did not want bubble wrap on their walls, so Fielding and Shawan tried to market their invention as greenhouse insulation. This continued until the 1960s, when bubble wrap found its true purpose in packaging boxes.
2. Soft drinks
There is a good chance that the drinks you give to children were never intended for them. As it turns out, many popular drinks started out as popular alcoholic cocktails.
Mountain Dew, for example, was originally intended to be consumed with whiskey. Sprite was sold as an add-on to the tart whiskey.
The most popular drink, Coca-Cola, was a drug developed by John Pemberton, a pharmacist and military officer who was injured during the American Civil War. Pemberton's wound caused pain and, as a result, a strong craving for morphine, which he constantly struggled with. One day, Pemberton heard about a new drug that people are using to rid themselves of opiates: a mixture of wine and cocaine.
Pemberton tried to make his own cocaine wine. When an assistant in the laboratory accidentally added sparkling water to the mixture, he tasted it and found himself holding a gold mine. Pemberton sold his invention as a panacea for almost all ailments, including "the most wonderful stimulant of sexual arousal."
1. Tampons
At the first position on our list of the most interesting things that are not used for their intended purpose are "little friends of women." They received a lot of both laudatory and negative reviews, in particular, due to toxic shock syndrome. However, women were not always the only ones using tampons. These hygiene products are closely related to military service. In the 18th century, medical books recommended keeping tampons with you at all times to cover up bullet wounds.
During World War II, the Tampax Company produced military bandages for the army. These were mainly bandages, but the famous product of the company found its application in men. There are records of soldiers using Tampax tampons to stop bleeding from a wound.