Colgate. For the people!

[austuser]

Sorry, its 2:54 am and im bored and depressed, so i decided to post a little anecdote.
(clears muccousy throat)

A few decades ago, the mega toothpaste company Colgate was in a bit of a shambles. Sales were down, profits were suffering and no forseeable solution was in sight. Until a sales rep for the company walked into the CEO's office with dollar signs in his eyes.

"I can save your company", he cockily stated. The big boss was rightfully skeptical, but upon further reassurances from the rep he decided to grant him a hefty finnancial sum if indeed he could lay down a plan for a long term sales boost. The rep presented his idea in one sentence.

..."Make the hole bigger".

The standard colgate tube was not always as we know it. The hole, where the paste comes out, used to be very small. One would need to apply considerable pressure to squeeze enough paste to cover ones brush. So they made the hole bigger.

But they didnt tell anybody.

So, sure enough, people ran out of their toothpaste and needed to re-stock, and when they did, and came to use their new tube, they acted on habit and squeezed the motherfucking life outta the thing, causing quite a mess. This had the dual effect of making the customer needing to buy a new tube of paste a few days earlier than they would normally have.

Profits grew exponentially.

The company was saved.

Colgate and the rep made millions.

True story, google it.

The only question is, when does someone apply that same ingenuity to an idea aimed at actually helping US?