Here’s a good case study for a business school rebranding class…. driving around northern Israel recently we passed a big warehouse prominently marked “ZIKA”. This turned out to be part of a company founded in 1950: ZIKA Industrials. Fortunately the products are for welding and are not targeted at consumers.
[http://www.zikavirusnet.com/history-of-zika.html says that the origin of the name for the virus comes from the “Zika Forest” in Uganda.]
http://money.cnn.com/2016/02/02/news/companies/tata-zica-name-change-zika-virus/
Tata Motors has been forced to change the name of its new hatchback — the Zica — just days before its official launch.
The automaker said it would re-brand the car to avoid calling to mind Zika, the mosquito-borne virus that has caused a public health emergency in the Americas.
The hatchback will debut this week at a car show in New Delhi with its original name — derived from “Zippy Car” — but a replacement will be chosen within weeks.
There’s also the Ayds (pronounced AIDS) weight loss system.
http://hoaxes.org/weblog/comments/ayds_weight_loss_candy
When our kids were young we bought a lot of stuff at ISIS Maternity. They’re no longer in business.
Favorite Jay Leno Joke: “The Defense Department was going to call the mission ‘Operation Iraqi Liberation’…but…that spells OIL”