Business is obsessed with growth. Making money isn't enough: you have to make more money than last year. That's unfortunate, since there are many products that are popular and profitable, but aren't successful, because they just bring in the same revenue year after year. And that leads to bizarre improvements, as they desperately try to make a satisfactory product better.
Today's exhibit is Q-Tips. It's likely a good money maker: lots of people use them, they don't have any competition other than generics, and they can't cost much to make. But that's boring, so let's make them better:
Now, they're not your parents' Q-Tips. Now they have precision tips. No more accidentally missing your ears with those huge blunt swabs. Of course, doctors - who tell us not to put them in our ears - will be pretty horrified by that.
And you have to love the shiny point. They're so pointy, even cotton will glint in the sunlight.
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