Bubble wrap was a failed attempt at plastic wallpaper.

In 1957 two inventors named Alfred Fielding and Marc Chavannes were attempting to create a plastic wallpaper. Although the idea was a failure, they found that it did make for great packing material. That materail became the bubble wrap that you use when packing breakable things and then spend hours popping all the bubbles.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubble_wrap
ps if you have a hankering to pop bubble wrap right now you can find a virtual version here http://www.virtual-bubblewrap.com/popnow.shtml