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Trademarks and their limits

Trademarks and their limits

Posted Feb 7, 2013 10:27 UTC (Thu) by branden (subscriber, #7029)
In reply to: Trademarks and their limits by Cato
Parent article: Trademarks and their limits

I counter your pedantry.

As early as 1987, the Stanley Kubrick film _Full Metal Jacket_ was promoted with a poster which featured in prominent type:

IN VIETNAM
THE WIND DOESN'T BLOW
IT SUCKS

Kubrick had been a resident of the U.K. for over 15 years at that point and was infamously involved in every aspect of his films' production, marketing/promotion, and distribution.

If an old fuddy-duddy like Kubrick could be persuaded of the utility of this slang by 1987, it surely must have had currency in the U.K. by the 1990s.

You sure that Electrolux ad campaign wasn't a bit of sardonicism?


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Trademarks and their limits

Posted Feb 7, 2013 10:39 UTC (Thu) by Cato (subscriber, #7643) [Link]

Well, Full Metal Jacket was a film about US soldiers set in Vietnam, so it's not so surprising it used American slang in the poster. Doesn't really prove it either way.

I really don't think Electrolux would have paid for a poster campaign designed to say it was crap...

Trademarks and their limits

Posted Feb 7, 2013 10:48 UTC (Thu) by mpr22 (subscriber, #60784) [Link]

Sarcastic self-deprecation in advertising is not, in fact, unheard of.

Trademarks and their limits

Posted Feb 7, 2013 10:54 UTC (Thu) by branden (subscriber, #7029) [Link]

...particularly when said self-deprecating sardonicism is tucked behind one fork of a double entendre.

Trademarks and their limits

Posted Feb 7, 2013 17:43 UTC (Thu) by hpa (subscriber, #48575) [Link]

It was very much intended (this is pretty well documented by now.) Not only that, but it was apparently quite successful in getting people to remember the otherwise fairly heavyweight brand name.

Trademarks and their limits

Posted Feb 8, 2013 4:00 UTC (Fri) by mathstuf (subscriber, #69389) [Link]

Avis had "We try harder [because we're not first]" for a while. I think they might have changed it by now because it seems that people figured "and it's still not enough to make you first".

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