What stories have you heard about other badly named products? ...

[RODY.ELKHALIL]

What stories have you heard about other badly named products?
 
  What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

Compare this case with Case Study 13.2 (Flunking History: Umbro and the Holocaust). What similarities and differences do you find in how the two companies created and responded to the crises?
 
  What will be an ideal response?

[sultansheikh]

Answer to Question 1

Chevrolet tried to introduce the Nova into Mexico. Unfortunately, no va in
Spanish means no go. Sometimes, it is not a case of a product being badly
named as much as it is a case of events conspiring against it. That was the
situation faced in the early 1980s by the makers of the appetite-suppressing
product Ayds. It was doomed by a nationwide epidemic that was identified by an
acronym that carried the same pronunciation as the product: AIDS. Mexico has
Bimbo Bread. Then there is the story of an Iranian dishwashing soap marketed in
the Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan. Although it is not exported at the present time, one can only hope that, if it is, it will be given a new identity to
replace its current brand name: Barf.

Answer to Question 2

A lack of research  and, possibly, a lack of good liberal arts educations
created both crises. Reebok acted quickly and with contrition: It apologized for its
poor marketing. The world's news media had a few laughs and moved on. Umbro,
on the contrary, seemed unwilling to acknowledge its error and unwilling to
apologize. It did express regret for any offense that some may have taken  not at
all the same thing as apologizing for a mistake. Students may wish to discuss
which response strategy appeals more to them as consumers who are highly
desirable to both companies.

[RODY.ELKHALIL]

Thanks

[sultansheikh]

Welcome