More often than shoppers might realize, everyday products are named after a brand. Even though there might be a generic name (facial tissue), the company name has become shorthand for the product (Kleenex). This phenomenon is called “genericization,” and it happens when a trademarked (or brand) name is so widely used that it becomes the identifier for the product. This has happened with the Band-Aid brand, now used to describe any sort of adhesive bandage, as well as with Q-tips for cotton swabs, and, of course, Kleenex. These are some of the more well-known examples, but there are plenty of other brands — products you likely use all the time — that now exemplify genericization.
Vaseline
Vaseline is the brand name for petroleum jelly, a multi-use product found in virtually every drugstore. Today, it is generally understood that “Vaseline” refers to any petroleum jelly-based product, even though competitors, such as Aquaphor, serve the same purpose. So, why is “Vaseline” the chosen term? Time: 150 years ago, Vaseline was the first commercial petroleum jelly, thus becoming the most popular brand, which it remains today.
Styrofoam
“Styrofoam” is the brand name of a polystyrene foam product created by the Dow Chemical Company. The term is often used to describe any foam container, especially of the food and beverage varieties, but these containers are actually made of expanded polystyrene foam — not Styrofoam at all. The real Styrofoam is manufactured by Dow for building insulation.
Dumpster
The term “dumpster” was coined in November 1936, when George Dempster introduced his line of large garbage bins — which could be picked up by a special truck — in Knoxville, Tennessee. He named the bins after himself, calling them "Dempster Dumpsters." Thus, “Dumpster” became a genericized term for a mobile garbage receptacle in the United States. In the U.K. and other English-speaking countries, they’re usually called “skip bins.”
Popsicle
It’s true, “Popsicle” is a trademarked brand name for ice pops, owned by Unilever. The history of the Popsicle begins over 100 years ago in 1905 when 11-year old Frank Epperson invented flavored-ice-on-a-stick and called them "Epsicles," using the root of “icicle.” Epperson later patented the Popsicle in 1923, and eventually, Unilever bought it, soon creating other product lines like the Creamsicle and Fudgsicle.
Frisbee
Most Americans refer to plastic flying discs as “Frisbees,” but the term is actually the brand name of Mattel Toy Manufacturers’s patented disc. Mattel bought the toy from Wham-O in 1994, the first company to produce them in 1957. The unique name stems from the Frisbie Pie Company in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where students would throw empty pie tins at each other, yelling “Frisbie!”. The nickname for the flyings discs caught on and Wham-O decided to use it for their new “Frisbee” toy. The Wham-O designer also developed the concept of “Frisbee Golf,” another extension of genericization because the popular game could be played with any type of disc.
Velcro
“Velcro” received the genericization treatment because “hook and loop fastener” doesn’t quite roll off the tongue. Velcro is a trademark owned by the U.K.’s Velcro Companies. The original design was named by combining the words “velvet” and “crochet,” an apt description of the two sides of the product. In a satirical music video, the company “lawyers” beg consumers to stop using the name “Velcro” to refer to generic products. The “Don’t Say Velcro” campaign attempts to educate consumers on the difference between their Velcro products and other similar products in an attempt to prevent the genericization of the brand.