#I remember as a child wondering why the brand of ASA made a difference | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

yarnings · 6 months ago

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I understand why companies don't want their trademarks to become the generic term. But they tend to walk a very fine line, because they are well aware that there are a lot of people who aren't going to buy "in-line skates" or "facial tissues" or "hook and loop fasteners" because the package doesn't say "Rollerblade" or "Kleenex" or "Velcro". The people who manage to not learn what the generic name for something are make those companies a LOT of money.

I had a co-worker once ask me to pick up some Tylenol for her on my break, so I ran upstairs to the pharmacy and picked up a thing of acetaminophen. She looked at it and went "what's this?". When she wanted Tylenol she literally meant Tylenol because that's what she took. (Meds are obviously a bad example, because "Tylenol" can be more than one kind of medicine, but it's the same problem).

no idea where i was going with this but i abandoned it at the most disconcerting moment possible

#I will admit that I didn't know Allen Wrench Lava Lamp Ping Pong or Realtor were trademarks #but if you're ever wondering why there's two different names and one is only used on packaging and by autistic people (like “in-line skates #that's probably why #But yeah #Bayer doesn't want to lose their trademark in any more jurisdictions #but they have the best of both worlds #because the market that the lost it in is such a big one #meaning that we all get their media #so we see stuff like “Aspirin is the only kind of painkiller that works to prevent heart attacks!”#I remember as a child wondering why the brand of ASA made a difference

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