A bubble wrap-lined room seems like the sort of idea that would come about after people everywhere had become obsessed with the satisfying sensation of popping the bubbles that keep our fragile items safe in transit. And yet, wallpaper was actually the original intent behind engineer Al Fielding and Swiss inventor Marc Chavannes’ invention. Turns out, the market for textured wallpaper was not what they had hoped, and the pair struggled to find an alternate angle. Despite some viability, the plan to pitch the material as an insulator for greenhouses didn’t pan out either. Then, in 1959, IBM had announced their new 1401 variable word length computer, and Fielding and Chavannes had an idea. They pitched bubble wrap as a packaging material for the fragile new technologies, and IBM agreed to give it a try. From there, bubble wrap found new purpose and people were left wishing they had whole rooms lined with the stuff. Probably.

2. KLEENEX

The public was slow to come around on the idea of disposable, publicly marketed sanitary pads that Kimberly-Clark, the producer had a great supply of. While they waited for the tides to turn, Kimberly-Clark found another use for its supply of creped wadding. Scientists created the super thin, soft tissues we know today before they even knew what it would be used for. Initially, marketers promoted it as a replacement for “cold cream towels,” which were used to apply skincare serums. Ads focusing on the cosmetic value—calling it “the new secret of keeping a pretty skin as used by famous movie stars”—sold Kleenex from its inception in 1924 until nose-needs were introduced into the marketing campaign in 1930.

3. VIAGRA

Viagra, or Sildenafil, as it’s officially known, was originally conceived as a treatment for hypertension, angina, and other symptoms of heart disease. But Phase I clinical trials revealed that while the drug wasn’t great at treating what it was supposed to treat, male test subjects were experiencing a rather unexpected side effect: erections. A few years later, in 1998, the drug took U.S. markets by storm as a treatment for penile dysfunction and became an overnight success. It now rakes in an estimated $1.9 billion a year.

4. BRANDY

Brandy, that delightful, caramel-colored after dinner drink, started off as a byproduct of transporting wine. About 900 years ago, merchants would essentially boil the water off of large quantities of wine in order to both transport it more easily, and save on customs taxes, which were levied by volume. After a while, a few of these merchants, bored perhaps after a long day on the road, dipped into their inventory and discovered that the concentrated, or distilled, wine actually tasted pretty darn good. Voila! Brandy was born.

5. COCA-COLA

Coca-Cola, one of the world’s most famous brand names, was originally invented as an alternative to morphine addiction, and to treat headaches and relieve anxiety. Coke’s inventor, John Pemberton—a Confederate veteran of the Civil War who himself suffered from a morphine addiction—first invented a sweet, alcoholic drink infused with coca leaves for an extra kick. He called it Pemberton’s French Wine Coca. It would be another two decades before that recipe was honed, sweetened, carbonated and, eventually, marketed into what it is today: the most popular soda in the world.

6. PLAY-DOH

Play-Doh, that strange, brightly colored, salty clay that all of us grew up molding and poking (and, occasionally, nibbling), was first invented in the 1930s by a soap manufacturer named Cleo McVickers, who thought he’d hit upon a fantastic wallpaper cleaner. It wasn’t for another 20 years that McVicker’s son, Joseph, repurposed the goop as clay for pre-schoolers and called it Play-Doh, a product that remains wildly popular among the under-5 crowd today.

source: mentalfloss

Find the mistakes in the sentences and correct them with the right piece of information from the text.

1. Bubble wrap was intended as insulator for greenhouses first.

2. Kleenex was created with a specific purpose in mind.

3. Viagra’s side effect is curing hypertension, angina and symptoms of heart disease.

4. Brandy is the byproduct of straining wine.

5. Coca-Cola was always carbonated and non-alcoholic.

6. Play-Doh’s name came from its inventor.

Key:

1. Bubble wrap was intended as wallpaper first.

2. Kleenex was created with no specific purpose in mind. Scientists created it before they even knew what it would be used for.

3. Viagra’s side effect is erection in males. It was originally conceived as a treatment for hypertension, angina, and other symptoms of heart disease.

4. Brandy is the byproduct of distilling wine.

5. Coca-Cola was first an alcoholic drink and was carbonated only later.

6. Play-Doh’s name came from the inventor’s son 20 years later.

1. IT USED TO BE FREE.

While Pemberton’s soft drink would eventually prove to be a hit at soda fountains, he was more of an idea man than a marketing expert: Coca-Cola languished for years until a businessman named Asa Griggs Candler took over the business following Pemberton’s death in 1888. To raise awareness, Candler had sales representatives hand out coupons good for a free serving. Once people tried it, they kept coming back for more—and forking over five cents a glass thereafter.

2. THE FAMOUS BOTTLE WAS ORIGINALLY SHAPED LIKE A COCOA BEAN.

While Candler was undeniably a better businessman than Pemberton, he made one significant misstep. At the turn of the century, Coca-Cola was usually sold at pharmacies and drug stores as a fountain drink. When bottlers approached Candler to see if he’d be interested in allowing them to distribute it in glass containers, Candler thought so little of the idea he allowed them to package the drink for a fee of just one dollar.

His inadvertent generosity proved profitable for bottlers across the country, including rival sodas: So many knock-off brands appeared that consumers had trouble telling them apart from the real thing. To alleviate the problem, Coke advised bottling partners to try and come up with a design that could be recognized by feel as someone dipped their hands into an icebox. A bottling plant in Indiana designed a chunky glass container shaped like a cocoa bean in 1916. They didn’t know Coca-Cola contained no actual cocoa. (It used coca, which contained trace amounts of cocaine until the company removed it circa 1900.) Still, the bottle became iconic, and Candler went out on a high note: After leaving the company that same year, he became mayor of Atlanta.

3. IT HIT THE SPOT FOR INFANTS.

Though some of the more serious health effects of sodas are well-documented today,  Coke enthusiasts of the late 1800s were not exactly concerned with the effects of sugar water on babies. Fussing infants were sometimes given drops of the drink in the hopes it might calm them down.

4. NEW COKE ACTUALLY HUNG AROUND FOR A LONG TIME.

While the tragic story of New Coke’s 1985 debut has been well-documented, not many realize that Coke clung to the idea of an alternative formula for a very, very long time. After consumers berated the company into bringing back their original flavor just months after New Coke’s debut—test marketing subjects who endorsed it were never told it was going to replace the original—the company tried to rebrand it as Coke II and continued offering it to bottlers until 2002. It may have been in the hope that persistence would pay off: The revised formula allegedly contained fewer ingredients and was cheaper to produce than Coke Classic. If consumers had rallied, the company might have saved over $50 million a year. 

5. THE CANS WERE INVENTED FOR SOLDIERS.

The only thing more pervasive than Coke’s distinctive bottles are its aluminum pull-top cans, which were born out of necessity: the company came up with them so they could be shipped to armed forces overseas. While practical, the materials needed were rationed during World War II and the company couldn’t produce them for troops until the conflict ended. Convenient and easily distributed, Coca-Cola began offering them to civilian customers in 1960.

6. THEY ONCE MADE CLEAR COKE FOR A RUSSIAN GENERAL.

Coke’s global expansion was expedited during World War II, when bottling plants were erected specifically to handle the demands of supplying men overseas. The distribution also caught the attention of foreign consumers: General Dwight Eisenhower introduced Coke to Georgy Zhukov, a Russian general who had resisted Nazi forces. Zhukov loved it, but feared Stalinist-era Russia would frown upon his enjoying a distinctly American and capitalist product. He requested Coke produce the drink for him in a plain bottle and make it colorless to resemble vodka: Coke complied. Russians didn’t get the Classic version until 1985.

7. THEY TRIED TO REPLACE COFFEE.

When Coca-Cola realized a good portion of their customers—by one estimate, 12 percent—consumed their sugary, caffeinated drink in the morning instead of coffee, they decided to launch an aggressive marketing campaign promoting themselves as a morning pick-me-up. “Coke in the Morning” was launched in several test cities in 1988, with the idea being that it would be easier to guzzle a cold can of soda than a hot cup of water. (The company was careful, however, not to imply soda could replace orange juice. They owned Minute Maid.)

8. THEY ONCE FILLED CANS WITH DISGUSTING WATER ON PURPOSE.

In 1990, Coke mounted an expensive promotional campaign dubbed “MagiCans.” When consumers purchased soda, they had a chance at acquiring a special spring-loaded can distributed at random that would spit out a rolled-up bill valued from $1 to $500. To make sure buyers couldn’t tell the weight of a “real” Coke from that of a prize container, the company filled it with a solution consisting of water, chlorine, and ammonium sulfate. While it tasted and smelled foul to discourage drinking, some consumers gulped it down anyway—and then threatened to sue. (Rival Pepsi ran a similar contest, but didn’t bother with the misdirection: It just gave consumers a number to call to claim a prize.)

9. PEPSI DID THEM A HUGE FAVOR.

In 2006, two Coca-Cola employees were caught trying to sell rival Pepsi trade secrets, including information on a beverage still in development, in exchange for an escalating series of payoffs from $5000 to $75,000. The employees handed over confidential papers and even a liquid sample to someone they thought was a Pepsi executive: It was an FBI agent. Pepsi had alerted both Coke and the FBI of the offer. A Pepsi spokesman told CNN that competition “must be fair and legal.” The two carbonated corporate spies received prison terms of five and eight years, respectively.

10. THEY HELPED MAKE MAX HEADROOM A STAR.

The bizarre, pseudo-animated Max Headroom character was created as a virtual television star in the UK by record company Chrysalis in 1985. Sensing his appeal for young consumers, Coca-Cola licensed Headroom that same year and made him the center of their ad campaign with a series of commercials directed by Ridley Scott. According to Coke, the spots helped Headroom gain a 76 percent recognition rating among teenagers.

11. THE SECRET FORMULA IS REALLY NO BIG SECRET.

Much has been made of how fiercely Coca-Cola has guarded its formula over the decades. Dubbed “7X,” it’s said to be housed in a corporate vault and accessible only to top executives. In 2011, NPR’s This American Life announced that they had come across the recipe via the papers of an Atlanta historian named Charles Salter, who had seen it in a pile of documents belonging to Coke inventor John Pemberton. In addition to fluid extract of coca, the drink purportedly includes lemon oil, cinnamon oil, nutmeg oil, and caramel. Responding to the ensuing media flurry, Coke insisted it was, if anything, an old version of the solution—but they never acknowledged whether they had checked NPR’s list of ingredients against their own.

12. WANT THE BEST COKE? TRY MCDONALD’S.

The two consumer-product giants have been joined at the hip since 1955, when McDonald’s owner Ray Kroc contacted the company about providing fountain drinks for his burgeoning chain of fast-food shops. Coke has since partnered with the Golden Arches on menu development (like smoothies) and even allows them to use its corporate facilities when expanding globally. The best perk of all, however, might be with the drink itself. According to The New York Times, Coke ships its syrup to McDonald’s locations in stainless steel containers, not the conventional plastic bags other suppliers use. The result is said to be the most delicious, freshest Coke available.

source: mentalfloss

Loud and clear. In a video for Coca-Cola, six men sit around a table in a pitch black room, and guess what the others look like based on stated interests, professions and hobbies.

When one man says, “I read a lot of books. I read a lot of cognitive psychology, behavioural science. I’ve spoken at TED Talks,” the others speculate he probably looks like a nerd. But when the lights come on, the speakers’ true identities are revealed. Because of certain misconceptions, every person’s prediction about the others at the table were wrong.

“It was amazing when the lights came on, and you get to realize who you’re actually conversing with,” one man says.

Another man admits if he had seen some of these people in the outside world, he probably wouldn’t have taken the time to sit down with them.

“Through this campaign, Coca-Cola encourages the world to see without labels, but instead to open their hearts, and see with their hearts…”

So, in honour of Ramadan (June 17 – July 17), in Middle Eastern countries “…Coca-Cola is removing its own iconic labels in aneffort to promote a world without labels and prejudices,” Coca-Cola said in a statement, according to CNN Money. And in a smart display of advertising, the brand took away its labels, replacing them with the words:

“Labels are for cans, not people.”

Upon seeing the Coca-Cola cans, the men come to terms with the brand’s message: Judging and labelling people, before actually getting to know them, is wrong.

“It changes your mind, your perspective, your heart,” someone in the video says. But the campaign isn’t without criticism.

“Critics debate whether these are genuine acts of social good or mere marketing ploys that associate a brand with feel-good campaigns. Also debatable is whether a limited-time campaign can have enough impact to change perceptions in the long term,” CNN writer Wyatt Massey points out. But, whether or not it’s for a brand or for real world change, we think the message is still a valid and good one.

Find the English equivalent of the following Hungarian expressions or sentence parts in the text.

1.    találgatnak, hogy néznek ki a többiek

2.    de amikor felkapcsolódik a lámpa

3.    valószínűleg nem szánt volna rá időt

4.    a szívükkel lássanak

5.    a márka levettek a címkéket

6.    mielőtt igazán megismernénk őket

Key:

1.    guess what the others look like

2.    But when the lights come on

3.    he probably wouldn’t have taken the time

4.    see with their hearts

5.    the brand took away its labels

6.    before actually getting to know them

Coca-Cola is the most famous brand in the world, and for a century has been one of the most profitable as well. In contrast to the drink’s success its inventor, a certain John Pemberton, died in poverty from cancer – his last years spent as a morphine addict.

Pemberton did not create the drink’s recipe from thin air. He produced what was initially a patent medicine. Even the name comes from the alliteration of its main ingredients – the coca leaf and the kola nut. While the drink has survived far longer than its contemporaries of the 1880s, it comes from a long American tradition which John Pemberton tapped into.

The patent medicine craze reached its heights in the years after the Civil War. Its advertising kept the newspapers in business. The content of such medicines was always questionable. Mercury, opium, and morphine were some of the more potent ingredients that turned up. Many other concoctions were little more than placebos advertised by salesmen to cure arthritis, chronic pain, and cancer. In an age when established medical practice was of questionable quality, these products filled a void and many of them sold quite well.

In the South, a Confederate veteran named John Pemberton concocted and sold a large number of these mixtures in the years after the Civil War. He was known to produce a higher quality product than most. He probably produced no less than ten separate medicines over the course of the 1860s and 70s, constantly refining his craft with a study of chemistry and biology. By the 1880s, a particular elixir had gained tremendous popularity in the patent medicine market. It was a mixture of wine and cocaine called Vin Mariani. Invented in Corsica, this product arrived in America through some well known people such as Thomas Edison, Jules Verne, and Pope Leo XII.

Cocaine was widely praised at the time for its medicinal qualities. It was known to increase the powers of concentration, to relieve headaches, to stimulate the intellect, and to provide a boost of energy for those engaged in physical exertions. Some even believed that the drug could provide a cure for morphine addiction.

The latter effect was what Pemberton hoped to achieve. Throughout the early 1880s he worked on his recipe until he created “Pemberton’s French Wine Coca” and began selling it in the Atlanta area. The initial response from his customers was quite positive, and Pemberton believed he had finally found his ticket to fame and financial security.

No sooner did Pemberton create his new beverage, however, when a campaign for alcohol prohibition began to sweep across Georgia.

Realizing he would be back to where he started without a new recipe, Pemberton removed the wine and began mixing other substances with the coca leaves he had. Most of the drinks were far too bitter, so he added sugar. This made the consistency too thick, and he added citric acid to compensate. Carbonated water, also known for its health properties at the time, was used as a base. Finally, in 1886, Pemberton was satisfied that he had created a palatable substitute for wine coca – a “temperance drink” as he called it. An associate named Frank Robinson created the name Coca-Cola  after two of the main ingredients.

Initial sales and feedback were quite promising. Unfortunately, Pemberton’s business sense failed him when it came to Coca-Cola. After a promising start he sold shares of his concern to several different people. He gradually diluted his own holdings down to almost nothing and began working on a competing product.

Pemberton did not live to see the tremendous success of his product. On August 16, 1888 he passed away from cancer. It would take the efforts of a very different man to turn Coca-Cola into a national soda drink.

 source: americanhistoryusa.com