Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, I can't see how "killing elephants" is different than "exploiting the natives; killing rare animals". Safari is phonetically a very nice name, however it still bears negative connotations. At least for some people.
Great names often have some negative connotations. Caterpillar is such an excellent name, that almost everybody remembers it once they have seen it. That can't be said about many other building machinery brands. But you can bet that when that name was proposed, somebody raised objections because "you can't name our powerful machines after an insect" Virgin Airlines has very negative connotations ("Virgin communicates…
The brand name "Virgin" arose when Branson and a partner were starting their first business, a record shop. They considered themselves virgins in business.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Group
It is a very British story so most of us in the UK probably know the success story a lot better.