Naming Names

[flyer333]

I'm a little fuzzy on this. I know when I have written stories I have shied away from including brand names. For example, in "House Party" when a character was lugging in a box of bottles of booze, I used the generaic terms like "vodka". I could have selected a brand name.

I guess not using brand names would allow the reader to associate the generic term with the brand of their choice. But are there rules against doing so?

What does everybody else do/think?

 

[Guest]

I'm a little fuzzy on this. I know when I have written stories I have shied away from including brand names. For example, in "House Party" when a character was lugging in a box of bottles of booze, I used the generaic terms like "vodka". I could have selected a brand name.

I guess not using brand names would allow the reader to associate the generic term with the brand of their choice. But are there rules against doing so?

What does everybody else do/think?

I've always been under the impression that it's fine to do so. At first glance you would think otherwise because the manufacturers may not want to find themselves affiliated with certain materials. On the other hand, it's free advertising.

I've seen porn flicks where a brand name is practically given its own commercial within the scene. I don't know if that was intentional, perhaps having something to do with "Vice Fund" investors, or if that label did actually front some production costs, or if the studio didn't bother putting in a budget for generic props and the label was just conspicuous by coincidence, but in the end, there it was.

I also see a lot of name brands in the books that I read. I'm somehow certain that those companies did not finacially kick in for the living costs of the authors during the writing stage of the book.

It would be interesting to see if someone pops up with an accurate answer to your question. I am by no means an expert in this area.

 

[BlackSnake]

Maybe this will help from Writer's Digest Unauthorized writings