#I remember as a child wondering why the brand of ASA made a difference

[yarnings]

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