Monday 8 March 2010

Misguided Marketing

The mistakes made by car manufacturers when naming new models are legion and well-known: Pajero means wanker in Mexican slang; Rolls Royce couldn’t sell its Silver Mist into the German market; et cetera, et cetera (see here for more of the same: http://www.oddee.com/item_93544.aspx).
And car manufacturers aren’t the only ones stuffing up on the branding front. At my local pharmacy they’re trying to flog something that calls itself an ‘exfoliant’ (no, I don’t know either) for your feet. It comes as a ‘slip on pad’ or as an ‘intense exfoliating sock’. It is called Milky Foot. Yes, it really is. Perhaps someone had already nabbed Silky Foot, so they just ran through the alphabet till they found another word. Or perhaps they really believe that there are people out there who want to have what Milky Foot offers – that is, ‘milky soft feet.’
Some people. Somewhere. I hope I don’t know any of them. (And what, after all, is wrong with standing in a bucket of milk?)

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