A century ago in a soap factory, a production mistake was made. A mixing machine was left running for way too long and ruined a batch of soap. The soap had stiffened and a lot of air got worked into it.

Production now had a very large and very "odd" batch of soap on their hands. They called in marketing to see if it could still be sold - a full scale new product introduction campaign followed immediately. You see, due to the fscked up processing, the soap floated. Further, due to the air in it, it disolved faster than regular soap, a convenience to the user, but one which would cause them to need to buy soap more often.

This is like the much earlier case in France, where the baker's apprentice, after preparing a large batch of dough, realized he had forgotten the butter. Desperately, he folded in the butter, but the dough was lumpy, so he rolled it out and folded it again and again until it finally looked normal.

It looked normal, but it didn't bake normal. The boss cornered his apprentice and sternly asked what had happened, and the kid confessed. He was not punished, however, because the baker was a marketeer, and launched the puff pastry industry, making possible the croisant and other popular products.

Disclaimer: the puff pastry story may or may not be true in reality (but if it isn't it ought to be). The soap story is true.