Thread by @finshots

Okay, time for another interesting story. 

Ever wonder how the blue Parachute Bottle came into existence? Here's a thread on how rats forced Marico to redesign the package encasing their most iconic product.

Back in the early days Parachute was sold in huge tin cans of 15 litres each, mostly through wholesalers. But during the late '70s traders in Bombay began experimenting with different packs and sizes. Some of the more adventurous folks had begun to sell Parachute in smaller packs

The new packs were more consumer-friendly and received a lot of interest from buyers. When Harsh Mariwala, the founder of Marico got whiff of this, he immediately charted a plan to introduce Parachute in cheaper and more consumer-friendly plastic cans.

However, there was a problem. Retailers were wary of stocking these plastic variants because they were soft & brittle. Rats could nibble on these cans & break into them with relative ease. And since rats loved nothing more than a good dose of coconut oil, this wasnt going to work

The team had to find a solution. They had observed that the rats nibbled on these cans because the plastic broke on the seams and it was easy for the little rodents to grip them on the edges. But what if they could package the oil in a more rounded plastic bottle and hardened it?

Maybe the rats would give up?

So that's exactly what they did.

In the early '80s, Marico convinced retailers to stock the rigid plastic pack by putting it alongside a bunch of rats in a cage.

The rigid pack stood firm. The rats, defeated. 
And the rest as they as is history

Source: bit.ly/3hGqmmO

For a more comprehensive reading on Marico check out finception.in/stocks/marico/