Imagine launching a campaign aimed at reducing brand dominance.
My n=1 experience is that when shopping for "hook and loop" strips online, I make sure that they are actual Velcro.
Beyond useless, I think that the attempt is misguided.
Don't Say Velcro (2017)
41–50 of 175 posts
Re: Don't Say Velcro (2017)
#42(2017), according to https://eu.usatoday.com/story/money/2017/09/26/velcros-video... They're trying to avoid genericide. I think if they didn't do this, they could actually lose the trademark .
but can they really stop it? I mean in most cases where a term becomes "generic" it has been long time generic before at some point someone bothers to make a study/lawsuit which declares it as generic as result. For example pretty much everyone I know uses Lego as a generic term and knows about not Lego produced bricks. Currently Lego still managed to defend the trademark but IMHO it's just a matter of time until it…
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Re: Don't Say Velcro (2017)
#43Re: Don't Say Velcro (2017)
#44This is humor, right?
yes, a cheeky CYA
Re: Don't Say Velcro (2017)
#45No problem in France - the generic term for Velcro here is 'scratch'.
Re: Don't Say Velcro (2017)
#46Cute attempt, but Velcro/velcro has already been genericised for decades at this point. Nobody's going to move (back?) to "hook-and-loop," especially when the alternative rolls off the tongue a lot better.
> Nobody's going to move (back?) to "hook-and-loop," especially when the alternative rolls off the tongue a lot better.
Cynically, I wonder if they intentionally chose an alternative that they know is a dud. They clearly do benefit from people calling it Velcro, they just can’t have a trademark judge thinking that they want people to call it Velcro.
In any case, the video is quite fun and well done. If you take it as a marketing campaign without putting too much weight on the legal strategy, it’s smart and well-executed on their part.
Re: Don't Say Velcro (2017)
#47Re: Don't Say Velcro (2017)
#48Reminds me of the dark ages, when Xerox was so dominant in the copier market that people used their brand as a noun and a verb. They were threatened with loss of their trademark, because it had become so generic. So they had a massive publicity campaign, asking people to say "copy" instead of "xerox". Is this a uniquely US thing? In the UK, people always say "hoover" instead of "vacuum".
Always a good time to share this: https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000002847155/verbat...
Re: Don't Say Velcro (2017)
#49No problem in France - the generic term for Velcro here is 'scratch'.
Klettverschluss in germany.
Klett comes from Arctium a plant with similar features (I guess) and verschluss is like the english term fastener or clasp.
Re: Don't Say Velcro (2017)
#50It is an interesting page because
* on the face of it, they are reminding people to not use their brand in a generic sense
* they also loaded it up with cutesy language. Maybe it is the most “meme-able” stuff legal would approve. “Don’t talk about me” is the best way to get talked about.