Products are usually well thought-out. After all, companies are investing time, money, and other resources into developing them. But even though they are created to satisfy a specific need, things happen and products can evolve into something else entirely, taking on new forms and applications.
To learn more about these examples, Reddit user u/EpicEllis2004 submitted a question to the platform, asking what are some of the products that have drifted away from their main purpose. Turns out, it's a topic that really interests people. In just a week, the post has received over 34K upvotes and 14K comments, providing quite a few interesting insights into consumerism. Here are some of the answers.
This post may include affiliate links.
History Channel... as far as I am concerned the secret relationships between aliens and the illuminati do not qualify as "history"
The toilet lid of a toilet. Seen too many not even know you're supposed to put the lid down before flushing. Microscopic fecal matter flies everywhere otherwise. Apparently this isn't common knowledge.
This. So many arguements about putting the toilet seat up/down when honestly, everyone should just close the lid once they’re done. The particles spread up to 6 m (19 ft) otherwise.
Slinky, the toy. It was originally designed during WW2 to help sensitive instruments remain steady on ships... to counter the effects of pitch, roll, and yaw. The engineer working on them knocked one off his desk accidentally, saw the way it moved from the table to the chair, to the floor, and a new purpose was born.
On a side note... during the Vietnam War, when the Slinkys were metal, radio operators would carry them through the deep jungles. If they couldn't get a good signal in the jungle mountains, they'd sling a Slinky high into the tree limbs while holding onto one end. It created an instant antenna extension that they would attach to the radio.
Q-tips. The only thing they are used for is the one thing you are explicitly told not to use them for.
The warming drawer on the bottom of all our ovens, which is used as pan storage for exactly %100 of oven owners.
Super glue was meant to be a temporary method of stitching a wound. It was used that way during the Vietnam War. Tell people today to super clue their cuts shut, however, and most will think you're crazy
Apparently paintball guns were invented for foresters/loggers/park rangers to mark trees (for cutting etc.) without having to approach each tree.
Wonder how many minutes it took after the initial product release that 1st forester thought that it would be funny to shoot Mike on back.. Maybe hours but definetly not days..
Snuggy was originally designed for wheelchair users. Outerwear designed for walkers is cumbersome to take on and off for wheelchair users so snuggies were designed to help with this.
Ketamine is for horses and not for Saturday night.
It's been approved for use as a human sedative, it's used in operating rooms and ICUs. And remember those Thai kids that were trapped in the flooded cave? Each kid got a shot of Ketamine before the final rescue, it kept them quiet as heroic spent hours dragging them to safety through a dangerous flooded cave.
WD-40 was developed as a rust preventative (it’s even in the initials: “WD” means “Water Displacement”). Nowadays people use it to lubricate mechanical parts.
Pipe cleaners,
Use them for all sorts of arts and crafts as kids. It wasn't till I owned a tobacco pipe and went to buy them that it actually clicked
Oh my Jesus Christ. I haven’t thought about these since I was in primary school. Back then, I assumed the ‘pipe’ in pipe cleaner referred the things that ran along the walls of my house and I didn’t question it. It’s only now, reading this as a fully grown adult, that I realise it’s not that kind of pipe at all. That update has been pending for decades!
I think people already know this but the neck on the beer bottle is actually supposed to be held so you don’t warm your drink too fast.
No thank you. I don't trust my clumsy hands to hold it steady at the neck.
Gloveboxes were originally meant to store gloves because people used to drive with gloves on for some reason.
People used to drive with at the very least - gloves, dust coats, goggles, and hats on, if not full face masks. Because cars didn't have roofs or windows and the roads weren't paved, anyone who drove the first cars was going to get all the dust, mud, or weather in the world in the face.
Minoxidil was originally developed to treat high blood pressure and people reported unusual hair growth all around the body, since it promotes blood flow to the skin pores. They came up with a topical version and voila, millions of people smear that sh*t on their scalps and beards everyday and its the one of the only clinically proven ways to cure baldness.
Microsoft Excel/Google Sheets used as informal databases instead of as a data analysis tool
I think MS Excel was always used as a data analysis tool, where as MS Access was used as an informal database since 1992
I definitely used at as an informal database at least a decade before I even heard of MS Access
Load More Replies...
Yeah, tell me about it. As someone currently turning half a dozen very large spreadsheets into a proper relational database.
My boss still thinks this is the greatest place to keep data! So sad!
Load More Replies...
Lotus 123 was invented as database/analysis Tool I remember programming macros in Lotus 123 back in 1990, Microsoft stole the concept and named it Excel, they gave it for free with Windows 95 and killed them, same thing with Word, they copied Word Perfect.
Yes, but apparently the writer of the article is too young to have even heard of Lotus...
Load More Replies...
Why store data? Because you are going to analyze it. There have always been data analysis tools connected with databases. Sometimes they are different programs that connect to the database. Sometimes (like MS Excel) they are one and the same.
VisiCalc released by VisiCorp in 1979 for Apple II Lotus123 was released in 1983 MS Excel in 1985 Yes, I'm THAT old. Worked with all of them but, the best software effah! in those days? Sideways.....(for those who remember "heaven" opening up IF you were in an accounting department with a super deluxe 9-pin impact printer from..Okidata.)
It's all fun and games until you lose several thousand covid patients...
Most abused calculator in the world! Whole fortune500 companies.run on it...
That's scary. Like when I managed a regional ISP and a local bank kept complaining about their dial up connection going down, long after more robust connections were available. Finally lost patience and told their CIO that trying to operate a bank on dial up was insane. I think he took his $19.95 a month business to our competitor. Thank goodness. Those were the days, my friend.
Load More Replies...
I thought excel was for running large corporations on, the heck with the 3 million dollar ERP system.
MS Access had a fairly steep learning curve for the casual user. It was much easier for most users to store data in an MS Excel spreadsheet. MS Excel worksheets are data storage tables.
Then why does Access, the Microsoft database program, exist? And why does Excel have a "sum" command for adding columns?
Always remember 1900 is a leap year in Excel to be compatible with Lotus which had the same fault.
What do you doubt? That Excel is meant for data analysis but is misused as database? We have lots of Excel "databases"
Load More Replies...
Depends on what you mean by "analysis." Not sure if I'd classify simple mean or standard deviation calculations or generating a graph an "analysis."
Facebook... originally intended to help college students meet, now used to control political behavior.
Zuck started it for dude-bros to rate the "attractiveness" of female students. So...It went from shitty to shitty in a different way, really.
Load More Replies...
Lots of medical products had entirely different intentions! Dramamine was originally meant to combat hay fever, but turned out to be exceptional at preventing nausea (which is good as it's useless at preventing hay fever). Spironolactone was being tested for blood pressure uses until they realized that it acts as a testosterone blocker (it does actually affect blood pressure, but barely compared to more traditional blood pressure medications). Pharmaceuticals is basically an entire industry of "not what I was going for but let's roll with it".
Skin So Soft (S.O.S.) from Avon was a beauty product, but was found to be an excellent mosquito repellent
Should I say autotune software. I think it was invented to improve the mistakes made after recording, now it's used to enhance voice and sound quality, and hide flaws of the singer and musicians.
Coke was a soft drink before,now I use it to clean my toilet and sink.They're quite cheap.
Coke actually started out as a medicine and was developed by a pharmacist. It originally contained cocaine but that was removed in the early 1900's and became a drink.
Load More Replies...
And canola (rapeseed) oil was originally developed as an industrial lubricant too - the petrochemical industry shut that down fast!
Load More Replies...
Here in India, 'Clinic Plus' is still sold and promoted as a shampoo but is an amazing bike and basin/bathroom cleaner.
BoredPanda. It was created for art/photography and such and now it contains a lot of posts shaming people.
It seems like you pushed a Qtip a lot too far in your ear.
Load More Replies... Facebook... originally intended to help college students meet, now used to control political behavior.
Zuck started it for dude-bros to rate the "attractiveness" of female students. So...It went from shitty to shitty in a different way, really.
Load More Replies... Lots of medical products had entirely different intentions! Dramamine was originally meant to combat hay fever, but turned out to be exceptional at preventing nausea (which is good as it's useless at preventing hay fever). Spironolactone was being tested for blood pressure uses until they realized that it acts as a testosterone blocker (it does actually affect blood pressure, but barely compared to more traditional blood pressure medications). Pharmaceuticals is basically an entire industry of "not what I was going for but let's roll with it".
Skin So Soft (S.O.S.) from Avon was a beauty product, but was found to be an excellent mosquito repellent
Should I say autotune software. I think it was invented to improve the mistakes made after recording, now it's used to enhance voice and sound quality, and hide flaws of the singer and musicians.
Coke was a soft drink before,now I use it to clean my toilet and sink.They're quite cheap.
Coke actually started out as a medicine and was developed by a pharmacist. It originally contained cocaine but that was removed in the early 1900's and became a drink.
Load More Replies... And canola (rapeseed) oil was originally developed as an industrial lubricant too - the petrochemical industry shut that down fast!
Load More Replies... Here in India, 'Clinic Plus' is still sold and promoted as a shampoo but is an amazing bike and basin/bathroom cleaner.
BoredPanda. It was created for art/photography and such and now it contains a lot of posts shaming people.
It seems like you pushed a Qtip a lot too far in your ear.
Load More Replies...