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In the UK, everyone refers to a vacuum as a 'hoover'. They are not the dominant vacuum brand there despite the massive name recognition.


Same with "Pampers" in Poland. Everyone says "pampersy" when referring to just generic diapers. Almost nobody buys the literal "Pampers" brand.


I'm not sure if physical products are analogous to internet services. If all it took to vacuum your house was typing "Hoover" into a browser, and everyone called vacuums "a Hoover," then I would expect Hoover to have 90% of the vacuum market share.

But since buying a vacuum usually involves going to a store, looking at available devices, and paying for them, the value of a brand name is less significant.


Pre-pandemic, at least in my social circles, "Skype" was the term for video calling. "Hey, wanna Skype?" and we'd hop on a discord call.

Post-pandemic, at work and such, "Zoom" has become synonymous for work call. Whether it's via Slack or Google Meet, or even Zoom, we use the term Zoom.

I don't know what the market share is on Skype (Pre-pandemic) or Zoom, but these common terms appear to exist for software.



'Pampers' and 'Xerox' in Russia.


BAND-AID is another one


And "generic trademark" is the Wikipedia article.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generic_trademark

Huh, bubble wrap, even.


On the other hand, no one cares about Velcro or Tupperware


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRi8LptvFZY

Video description, from the Velcro brand YouTube channel:

Our Velcro Brand Companies legal team decided to clear a few things up about using the VELCRO® trademark correctly – because they’re lawyers and that’s what they do. When you use “velcro” as a noun or a verb (e.g., velcro shoes), you diminish the importance of our brand and our lawyers lose their insert fastening sound. So please, do not say “velcro shoes” (or “velcro wallet” or “velcro gloves”) - we repeat “velcro” is not a noun or a verb. VELCRO® is our brand. #dontsayvelcro


Tannoy another.




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