Relief from the winter blues: They did WHAT?

The Velcro Companies, The New York Yankees’ Tampa farm team and the World Chess Federation have all released brand-related materials that may bring you some relief from the winter blues. Maybe it will evoke a smile or even a chuckle or two. They will undoubtably also cause you to shake your head, wondering, Really? They did WHAT?
One would not expect to see trademark protection discussed on The RidicuList, Anderson Cooper’s sometime final note to his show on CNN. But this happened a couple of months ago, with Cooper drawing attention to the video created by the Velcro Companies to try to protect its VELCRO® brand from using the brand name for any “hook-and-loop fastener.”

Trademark protection is serious stuff, seriously. No company wants to see its brand used as a common noun or verb. People saying that they are googling to find a web site is doing a disservice to Google, let alone if they do it while reaching for a kleenex. It is understandable that a company would make every effort possible to protect their trademarks. These are among their most precious assets.

On the other hand, humour is also a serious matter. Ask any comedian or comedy writer. Funny is hard. VELCRO® made an attempt (one must really, really believe) at humour that fell flat. It isn’t just not funny, but embarrassing. Embarrassingly funny, actually.
velcro.com

Major league baseball decided that farm teams should not carry their parent’s name. So what name would the Tampa Yankees adopt? The major league teams in Tampa are the Buccaneers (NFL football), the Lightening (NHL hockey), and the Rays (MLB baseball). Sports Teams like names that have some relevance to their location (hence other Florida teams: Orlando Magic, Miami Heat, Miami Dolphins. Jacksonville Jaguars, Florida Panthers: not so much). So of course, the Tampa Bay Yankees became the Tampa Tarpons (a tarpon is a fish).
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The problem, of course, is that people’s eyes and brains play tricks, and it won’t take long for the team to be called the Tampa Tampons. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that the letter “r” is visually half of an “m”, completing the first four characters of Tampa and Tampons. This problem is something any half competent naming or branding consultant would have pointed out.

If they had wished to be named for a fish, why not the Tampa Tilapia? Or the Tampa Tarantulas? Anything but the Tampa Tampons, sorry, Tarpons.
TampaTarpons

Finally, the last inexplicable example comes from the staid world of chess championships. The World Chess Federation’s logo for the competition in London this coming November raised more than a few eyebrows.

What, exactly, were they suggesting with this logo? This is just (to use a technical term) weird. Were they trying to suggest that chess is sexy? Or is this another example, similar to the ones above, that they did not think of what they were doing? Were they simply blinded by the selling spin of the logo’s creators that their eyes stopped sending signals to their brains?

Ultimately, this may create a different kind of chess competition. One can anticipate hearing some of the comments amongst the hushed audiences, “Did you see what his bishop did to the queen?” And so it will go.
london2018.com