Comments on: What is the term for that phenomenon?

Question: What is the term for that phenomenon?

lazaruslong — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 11:44:52 -0800

What is it called when a brand name becomes so ubiquitous that it becomes a descriptor for the action or item itself, e.g. Xerox and Kleenex?

Is there a word that describes that phenomenon? For example, the term xerox has been used to often to describe photocopying something that it has become a term for photocopying itself. What is this called?

By: exogenous

exogenous — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 11:50:37 -0800

genericide

By: lazaruslong

lazaruslong — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 11:52:38 -0800

thank you!

By: exogenous

exogenous — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 11:52:44 -0800

wikipedia on genericide
the term has always bothered me as a sort of malapropism, but it seems we're stuck with it.

By: chudder

chudder — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 11:55:24 -0800

Brand eponym, or, simply, eponym.

By: cortex

cortex — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 11:56:49 -0800

By: Steven C. Den Beste

Steven C. Den Beste — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 12:08:39 -0800

Everywhere except the US, "Aspirin" is a trademark belonging to Bayer. But they lost control of it here.

By: ob

ob — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 12:50:47 -0800

Just a side note that other countries have their own lovely variants. Off the top of my head, the UK has Hoover, Sellotape and Blu-Tak to name but a few...

By: Gungho

Gungho — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 13:03:39 -0800

Canada has Javex, we have Clorox, Germany has Tesafilm, we have Scotch Tape...Which reminds me how difficult it is to ask for such items in a foreign country. If it is known generically by the brand name.

By: MeetMegan

MeetMegan — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 13:56:54 -0800

Gungho, you just describe what you want. Instead of Scotch Tape, you ask for transparent tape. Instead of Post-It Notes, you ask for sticky notes. Instead of Kleenex, you ask for facial tissue. Each one of those brand names you list has a little subtitle underneath that is a descriptor. Clorox Bleach, Xerox Photocopier, TiVo digital video recorder, etc.

By: acoutu

acoutu — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 14:34:24 -0800

Most marketers would say "trademark dilution" before they'd say "genericide".

By: printchick

printchick — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 14:48:49 -0800

It's kind of funny, but journalism industry magazines often run ads from these trademarked names, like Kleenex, Tobasco, Realtor, reminding reporters that those names are tradmarked and that they should be recognized as such. I hope the ads help.