The Story Of A Product With A Most Unfortunate Name [Video]

What's in a name? If you're William Shakespeare you wax all poetic and talk about roses. If you're in the business of advertising it's all about recall. Does your product have a name that people will remember when the time comes to make the purchase. Companies spend millions of dollars to come up with a name that conveys confidence, trust, and might even suggest what the product is used for.

Sometimes all that money and market research goes right out the window when the name you've chosen for your product inadvertently links your product to something that is not very desirable. Such is the case of a rather popular dietary aid that was popular when I was a kid. The product's name is Ayds.  This weight loss candy was popular in the late 70's and early 80's then came AIDS.

All of the sudden the commercials for Ayds the candy sounded like a horribly written comedy sketch as most people were thinking about the AIDS disease. The company that made the candy changed the name to Diet Ayds but that didn't really help.

This isn't the only time a product name has fallen prey to a change in modern vocabulary. It just happens to be the one that more Americans would be familiar with. If you lived in Australia you might know the story of Wack Off Insect Repellent or a soft drink named SARS. In Ghana there was vast drop in market share for Pee Cola and Shitto brand condiments. While in New Zealand the Golden Gaytime Bar ice cream

treat has managed to weather the storm and even pokes fun at its unique moniker in their advertising.