Bad product naming they haven't realized yet - the Volkswagen ID.Buzz

[MrPixel]

I certainly don't know about the other ladies here on AH beyond discussing the virtues of their Hitachi massager, but my wife refers to her vibrator as "Buzz". As in "I'm going to spend a moment with Buzz," like it was a boyfriend. So when I explained to her that VW was remaking their classic Microbus - of which she had two - and naming it "ID.Buzz", the reaction was "You've got to be kidding!" accompanied by a giggling laugh. I am guessing that for obvious reasons, others may also refer to their favorite vibrator as "Buzz".

It's not a "proposed" name. It's the model's name and has been sold in the European market for several months, and is being promoted in the US and Canada with that moniker. They're stuck with it.

This whole thing just reminds me of Mazda's logo from the '90s. It was supposed to be a stylized "eternal flame", but was quickly noticed as looking like a toilet seat... then somebody realized it closely resembled female genitalia. It was at that point it was quickly replaced with the stylized 'M' they use now.

 

[Bramblethorn]

 

[MrPixel]

Yeah. I had a friend nicknamed "Buzz", too. He wasn't her style.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I certainly don't know about the other ladies here on AH beyond discussing the virtues of their Hitachi massager, but my wife refers to her vibrator as "Buzz". As in "I'm going to spend a moment with Buzz," like it was a boyfriend. So when I explained to her that VW was remaking their classic Microbus - of which she had two - and naming it "ID.Buzz", the reaction was "You've got to be kidding!" accompanied by a giggling laugh. I am guessing that for obvious reasons, others may also refer to their favorite vibrator as "Buzz".

It's not a "proposed" name. It's the model's name and has been sold in the European market for several months, and is being promoted in the US and Canada with that moniker. They're stuck with it.

This whole thing just reminds me of Mazda's logo from the '90s. It was supposed to be a stylized "eternal flame", but was quickly noticed as looking like a toilet seat... then somebody realized it closely resembled female genitalia. It was at that point it was quickly replaced with the stylized 'M' they use now.

Marketing nightmares. "Buzz" also means (or used to) the effect one gets from using drugs. "He was really buzzed after taking several hits from the bong." The ill-fated Edsel was also accused of having a front grille that looked like female genitalia. Or maybe people just see what they want to see, and sex is always on their minds.

Pink and white, no less:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/1958_Edsel_Citation.jpg

 

[gunhilltrain]

Then there is Bimbo Bakeries, part of Grupo Bimbo, which was formed in Mexico City in the 1940's. Somebody didn't do due diligence down there when checking the name, always a hazard when translating from a foreign language. I first saw this brand in a store near where I live.

"The name "Bimbo" was first coined in 1945 when the company switched from Super Pan S.A. A blend of the words "bingo" and "Bambi",[9] the name's innocent, childlike associations fit the image that the company wished to build. The English word "bimbo", with its negative connotations, has no cognate in Spanish."

Difficult place to work, perhaps.

https://www.bimbobakeriesusa.com/about-us

 

[MrPixel]

"Buzz" also means (or used to) the effect one gets from using drugs.

Still has that connotation. There are multiple public service commercials played frequently in our area about "Buzzed driving is drunk driving."

Bimbo? I had an ongoing correspondence some 40 years ago with an Italian fellow named "Bimbo". He was a member of our informal Fiat restoration group. But that's interesing, I didn't know the Mexican "Bimbo" name was a portmanteau.

These sort of marketing trip-ups are all over the place especially when you consider language differences. "Exxon" for instance? It was "Enco" in the US, but when they started to expand into East Asian markets, apparently "Enco" had some undesirable meaning in one of the (many) languages there.

Anyway, when VW started promoting the "new Microbus", why didn't they just call it that, like the "New Beetle"? "Buzz" is an unforced error in the name of being trendy... or whatever.

 

[JGittes]

Maybe Buzz Aldrin has a licensing agreement.

 

[MrPixel]

I'm picturing in my mind the current scenario in our house where we have "I'm taking the [specific model] to the store. Since we have two of that particular make/model, we have to clarify. Every time.

Now with the "Buzz" thing, "I'm taking Buzz for a drive", I won't know immediately if I need to look for her in the garage or the bedroom.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I'm picturing in my mind the current scenario in our house where we have "I'm taking the [specific model] to the store. Since we have two of that particular make/model, we have to clarify. Every time.

Now with the "Buzz" thing, "I'm taking Buzz for a drive", I won't know immediately if I need to look for her in the garage or the bedroom.

Auto companies have had various "Mad Men" advising them to use place places, often from the American West or even California. I doubt anybody ever took a Pontiac Bonneville to the Bonneville salt flats. When they go overseas, the results are even worse. The Lincoln Versailles; did the dealerships or customers even know how to pronounce that correctly? I can't imagine pulling up to the palace in this thing:

https://i0.wp.com/www.macsmotorcity...977-Lincoln-Versailles-LR-600.jpg?w=599&ssl=1

 

[Cagivagurl]

It's not that they've given it a new name. It's that they've walked away from one of the ,ost iconic names in the motor industry...
Everybody knows, microbus, or as we call them in this country "Kombi."
Why would you do that?
Spend decades building a name, then walking away from it...
Seems crazy to me. I had 2 "Kombi's" And I loved them both.

BTW, my sx toys have names... I don't call them what they provide, otherwise thy would all be called orgasm.....

Cagivagurl

 

[Bramblethorn]

If it gets everybody talking about the brand, that's not necessarily a bad thing for them.

 

[MrPixel]

If it gets everybody talking about the brand, that's not necessarily a bad thing for them.

Well, yes. It creates... uh... "buzz".

 

[MajorRewrite]

And Twitter is becoming X, because when you make a really bad investment you want to X it out of your memory.

 

[MrPixel]

The articles I read about 'X" is that Musk says a lot of attention-getting crap that he doesn't follow through on. On the other hand, the holding company for Twitter was renamed 'X', so there might be something to it.

 

[Duleigh]

My wife refers to her toy as "BOB"
Battery Operated Boyfriend
He's the only member of my family to have appeared in one of my stories so far...

 

[Bramblethorn]

And Twitter is becoming X, because when you make a really bad investment you want to X it out of your memory.

My first thought on hearing about that renaming:

 

[alohadave]

And Twitter is becoming X, because when you make a really bad investment you want to X it out of your memory.

He must really like X. He was part of PayPal back in the early days, and the host then was X.com.

 

[Duleigh]

He must really like X. He was part of PayPal back in the early days, and the host then was X.com.

Everthing he touches turns into $ I hope he can do it with X

 

[MetaBob]

Another product with a name that initially drew ridicule. Seems to have done okay, despite:

 

[gunhilltrain]

The articles I read about 'X" is that Musk says a lot of attention-getting crap that he doesn't follow through on. On the other hand, the holding company for Twitter was renamed 'X', so there might be something to it.

Musk also has The Boring Company, which is digging tunnels so that cars can ride through them on pallets. (What?) He's either very tongue-in-cheek or completely tone-deaf when it comes to words.

 

[gunhilltrain]

My wife refers to her toy as "BOB"
Battery Operated Boyfriend
He's the only member of my family to have appeared in one of my stories so far...

You're obviously kidding us, I hope.

 

[MrPixel]

My wife refers to her toy as "BOB"
Battery Operated Boyfriend
He's the only member of my family to have appeared in one of my stories so far...

Not the first time I've heard that. Bob is a popular guy!

 

[Duleigh]

You're obviously kidding us, I hope.

Bob appears in Stormwatch - Blizzard in Buffalo. He's not the MMC - he has a large but nonspeaking part.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Bob appears in Stormwatch - Blizzard in Buffalo. He's not the MMC - he has a large but nonspeaking part.

Please don't take this the wrong way, but when I was married (a while ago!) it would have bothered me if she used an electric vibrator but it would have been okay if she owned a regular dildo. (I don't believe she did at that point.) You may ask: what's the difference? I don't know exactly, but that's probably what I would have thought.

See the Mojo Nixon song, "Vibrator Dependent," in which the narrator's wife has basically replaced him with her electric toy.

 

[bumpercars]

And Twitter is becoming X, because when you make a really bad investment you want to X it out of your memory.

See, I heard it was becoming X because he wanted to name the company after his wife.