26Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic the Hedgehog was originally brown, bald, and named “Mr. Needle Mouse.” He was redesigned and renamed after Sega decided to make their marketing campaign about how Nintendo was for children and Sega was edgy.
27. In the 1960s, Electrolux successfully marketed vacuums in the United Kingdom with the slogan “Nothing sucks like an Electrolux.”
28. In 1998, Lay’s marketed a new line of chips called "WOW!" which was later pulled off shelves after it was found to cause abdominal cramping, diarrhea, and anal leakage.
29. One strain of bacteria was isolated from the poo of a “stubbornly healthy” World War 1 soldier in 1917 and was marketed as Mutaflor. Prescribed to Hitler for his notorious bowel issues in 1936, the same strain under the same brand can still be purchased outside the U.S. today.
30. The renowned British pub meal, “Ploughman’s Lunch”, was invented in the 1950s as a marketing exercise. The Cheese Bureau, a marketing body, began promoting it in pubs as a way to increase the sales of cheese, which had recently ceased to be rationed.
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31Buttplugs
Buttplugs were originally designed as rectal dilators marketed as a cure for insanity and constipation.
32. The German candy “Werther’s Original”, was purposefully marketed in the 1990s as being a candy that grandparents would give to their grandchildren.
33. Febreze initially marketed itself as a product to get rid of unpleasant smells and it sold poorly until P&G realized that people become accustomed to smells in their own homes and stop noticing them even when they are overpowering (like the smell of several cats in a single household).
34. The diamond engagement ring fever was invented by an ad campaign in the 1930s and before that few Americans proposed with the precious stone, and the price of diamond was falling.
35. Breakfast wasn’t regarded as the most important meal of the day until an aggressive marketing campaign by General Mills in 1944. They would hand out leaflets to grocery store shoppers urging them to eat breakfast, while similar ads would play on the radio.
