When consumers find unintended uses of products

Designing a product for the market is never the easiest thing. It may take many years and deep effort to come up with a product that filled a particular need in the market.

Surprisingly, consumers don’t always seem to read from the same script as the product developers and often find new uses for the manufactured goods other than their intended use.

Like is the case globally, consumers in Kenya continue to discover unintended use of popular products and brands—including milking salve, toothpaste and even condoms.

The Business Daily sampled some of the products and brands that have become popular in the country for reasons other than their intended purpose.

1. ARIMIS MILKING SALVE

This balm has for many years been used by farmers to soothe irritated cow udders during and after milking. A noticeable softness of the palms of milkers using this product has however triggered a scramble for it with many consumers now using it for cosmetic reasons.

The milking salve has today become popular in households where it is used as a hand and body lotion. Most users claim it is an effective skin softener and affordable too unlike many other products in the market.

2. COUGH SYRUP WITH OPIOD OR CODEINE

These are prescribed drugs because of their addictive and sensitive nature. Codeine, which is used to treat mild to moderately severe pain, is an opioid medication which is sometimes called a narcotic. Pure codeine is mostly prescribed as a painkiller and falls under controlled substances.

Despite the intended use of the codaine laced medicines, some consumers have opted to abuse codeine cough syrup by mixing it with soda or alcohol to achieve a drunken sensation. Because of the restriction on codeine, cough syrup has become an easy way for consumers to beat the constraint.

Stunned by this, the Pharmacy and Poisons Board in January 2018 banned the sale of medicines that contain codeine such as Benylin with Codeine, Coscof C and a cough suppressant known as Actifed with codeine syrup, without a doctor’s prescription.

3. INDOCID TABLETS

This is a prescription medicine that is commonly used to reduce fever, pain, stiffness, and swelling from inflammation.

Some consumers have however found a new purpose for indocid and use it to eliminate unwanted rodents such as rats and mice from their homes. The drug causes acute dehydration and anorexia in rats and mice leading death within hours.

4. CONDOMS

Male condoms have for a long time been used to stop cases of unwanted pregnancies or limited the spread of sexually transmitted infections(STIs). Some fishermen on the Kenyan coast use condoms to protect their phones from being damaged by water. Even in extreme cases where their fishing vessels capsized, they are still able to use their phones to seek for help.

5. TOOTH PASTE

The alternative uses of toothpaste have become numerous. Some consumers use the regular non-whitening toothpaste to restore faded motor vehicle head lamps, while others use it soothe sore pimples on the faces or insect bites. Some consumers apply it on wounds while other using it to restore shine on jewelry or clear moisture from the eye glasses and bathroom mirrors.

Toothpaste is also popular among some consumers who use it to remove scuffs from leather shoes or clear gunk off the bottom plate of an iron box.

6. MOSQUITO BED NETS

Malaria remains one of the biggest diseases burden in the country hence the distribution of bed nets has been a key strategy by the government and development partners to help reduce the spread of infections through mosquito bites. According to the Economic Survey 2018, deaths from malaria rose 9.7 per cent to 17,553 in 2017. The most affected were pregnant women and children below the age of five.

Despite this, consumers in Kenya have other uses for the bed nets other than keeping malaria-transmitting mosquitoes at bay. Some use bed nets for fishing while others use them to protect their kitchen gardens from invasion by birds and domestic poultry.

7. COCA COLA

This is a big soft drink brand globally and you will certainly find it on most shop shelves and dinner tables. Ingenious consumers have nonetheless found other uses for the soft drink other than quenching their thirst.

Some consumers now use it to clean windows and bath tubs, remove stubborn stains on clothes, clear rust of metallic parts, help fade unwanted colour shades on dyed hair among others. Some consumers also sprinkle the soft drink on rusted nuts and bolts to help loosen them.

8. TABLE SALT

You would hardly miss salt on most dinner tables as households relied on it to add taste to food. Some consumers have nonetheless found nifty uses of salt beyond the dinner plate. Some use salt to get rid of those embarrassing shoe smells by adding some of it in them to soak up the moistures.

Table salt is also effectively used to keep away ants from infesting houses and gardens. Ants tend to avoid locations where salt has been sprinkled.

Some consumers also use salt to help clear the strong smell of garlic and onion from their hands. The salt is rubbed in wet hands and later rinsed off.

Table salt is also commonly used to protect shower curtains from mold. Freshly unpacked curtains are doused with salty water which keeps away mold.

9. YOGHURT

Yoghurt may be a popular dairy drink but it has since found other uses. Some consumers take advantage of the anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties of yoghurt to clear pimples and acne from their skin. They apply to the affected parts of the skin and later wash it away.

Yoghurt is also used by some as a hair conditioner. They rub it on their hair and scalp and later rinse it off with lukewarm water. Some women also use yogurt in their private parts to clear yeast and bacterial infections especially in pregnancy.