Resurrection is a popular topic in branding and trademarks. There’s Tylenol, of course, which returned from a near-death experience; and Pepsi, which promised to provide one. Now William Lozito at Name Wire notes the phenomenon of
[S]taid, established brand names like GE and Westinghouse … being licensed to consumer electronics manufacturers overseas, mostly in Asia, and com[ing] back home to dominate a segment they did many years ago.
GE, in other words, brings good things back to life. He wonders a little about whether we’re calling a spade a spade here —
I can’t help but think, however, that many consumers, when the buy products by Westinghouse, Honeywell, GE or Sylvania, must be under the impression they are “buying American.”
— but he need not. If GE says that TV is a GE, it is a GE. And that’s a privilege only GE has. They stand behind it, to whatever extent that may mean, regardless of what language they speak and what they serve in the commissary of the McFactory that spat it out. As William comes around to acknowledging, after all:
I suppose in a world where close to 40% of a Ford is made overseas, “buying American” is harder and harder to do.
And it’s increasingly less meaningful — politically, economically, technologically.
Which isn’t to say that I can’t wait till my Nissan lease is up and I can get back into a Buick. I just can’t get used to Japanese cars. I just hope the other big General — General Motors — is in business this time next year. (And that I am. I may be outsourced by then!)
Originally posted 2014-08-11 18:52:38. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
