Genericized Brands or Trademarks

I recently tried to think of as many genericized brands/trademarks as I could (don't ask why, I forget now how it came up). It was an interesting exercise, and I was able to conjure up quite a few -- and after inquiring with some folks, I got a few more.

Having your brand or trademark become genericized is, of course, a double-edged sword. While it means your brand name is used all the more often in the languages in which it has been genericized, it also means it will be used to describe products from competitors, some of which might be substandard in various ways. At that point, a company's ability to differentiate their popular product or service is decreased. No doubt there has been plenty written about this phenomenon, by marketing experts or others, so I won't say anything more about it here (I suspect it gets covered, for instance, in the book Brand Aid).

Anyway, here is the list I came up with... the most obvious ones coming first:

• Kleenex
• Xerox
• Band Aid
• Q-tip
• Walkman
• Rollerblade
• Scotch tape
• Popsicle
• Post-It Note
• Velcro
• Listerine
• Frisbee
• Aspirin (coined by Bayer I think, trademarked in some countries)
• Tupperware

Then some that have been somewhat genericized in my opinion:

• Kodak -- was genericized in the past, when it was dominant in cameras
• Alka-Seltzer?
• Frigidaire in the past perhaps? I've heard people say this name as a generic term, in moments of nostalgia perhaps?
• Davenport -- I think that was once a brand name, or named for an inventor.
• Crisco?

I've read some articles in recent years about the name "Google" becoming genericized, and I've experienced that first hand as people say they will "google" something and then proceed to use Yahoo! or some other search site. I've also heard speculation that "iPod" might become genericized, but I don't think it has happened yet, as people who have non-iPod brand MP3 players tend to say that they have an "MP3 Player" not an "iPod".

And I'll also note that I've heard that in some countries "Coke" is genericized to mean any soda-pop beverage, or at least any dark-colored carbonated beverage. Is this true anywhere in the US? Or just other countries? To me, this is very strange. When folks sit in a restaurant and are asked what they'd like to drink, they say "a Coke", and the waitress then says "what flavor Coke? we have cola, root beer, or Dr. Pepper?" That would just seem very odd to me. For me, if I ask for a Coke at a restaurant, I expect to either get a Coke, or learn that they don't carry Coke, but do carry Pepsi. I don't expect to be asked if I want a root beer? And is this usage restricted to dark-colored beverages, or might one get a Sprite or ginger ale when they ask for a coke?

After some research, I found that besides "genericized brand", this type of word usage is one form of what is called a synecdoche (although the wikipedia entry for this seems to cover several different things, each of which could have its own term I would think, so I wonder if these are really all called "synecdoches").

Naturally, there is a Wikipedia entry for Genericization. And linked from there is a long list of such trademark names. I should have thought of a few included there, like chap stick, linoleum, thermos, and zipper. And if check it out, be sure to scroll down to see the much longer list of terms that are still trademarked but that might one day become so genericized that the trademarks would be difficult to enforce. And also interesting are the lists of genericized trademarks in languages other than English. And for a non-Wikipedia list, here is one for American terms.