S1E11 (Archive) - Accidental Brands

• 2 years ago
• Radio
• 27:35

From the Digital Box Set: It may surprise you to know that many famous brands were invented completely by accident. They weren't the result of years of research, or painstaking experiments, or scientific brilliance - they were simply stumbled upon by mistake. Like IMDB (the Internet Movie Data Base) that began as a simple list of pretty actresses compiled by a movie buff. Or Play-Doh, which started life as a wallpaper cleanser. Popsicles were invented when a flash freeze surprised the residents of San Francisco one night. A certain breakfast cereal was originally invented in a sanatorium to suppress sexual urges. And speaking of lust - Viagra was created for completely non-sexual reasons - then became a blockbuster wonder drug. Each is famous, their stories are fascinating and all are accidental brands. This is an archived episode that aired originally on March 17, 2012.