Sunday, September 02, 2007

Are You Old Enough to Remember When We Stopped Asking for the Scotch Tape And Why?

Yes, Scotch Tape™ is still around. For that matter, so is Kleenex™ and Saran Wrap™ and Xerox™ and that's about all I can remember. For the very young, these are trademark names that morphed into generic terms, then morphed back into the specific. Does anyone have any idea how this happens? And how are they different from Hotchkiss, still a generic name for staplers in Japan and Korea, and Hoover, likewise in the UK for vacuum cleaner? (Or so I hear.)

I would appreciate any leads.

BTW, I think that "let it out" is somewhat inappropriate as a slogan for Kleenex™. But maybe that's just me.

4 comments:

Durf said...

I bet you could google up--whoops, sorry, search the Web with the Google engine--and find some interesting answers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genericized_trademark

Jun Okumura said...

Thanks, durf, for the tip. I will definitely use my favorite search engine.

Anonymous said...

interested to hear why you think let it out is an inappropriate slogan... i think it is brilliant

Jun Okumura said...

Erika:
I agree with you. It is brilliant. And it is that hint of inappropriateness lurking in the background that does the job.