Neutrogena reminds me nothing of that sort. Now, why would anyone name their beauty cream something as bland as Neutrogena, when a wide range of beauty-related names are available? It set me wondering: maybe foreigners gave bland names to their products in comparison to Nepal? When I peeled my eyes and started looking, I found a lot of evidence for the same. [break]
For example, did you ever wonder what “Liril” meant? Or Colgate, Nivea, or Lifebuoy? Let us start with Lifebuoy, which actually means a boat, and not a lively boy as we may assume. Pretty complicated, isn’t it? For a South Asian product like Fair and Lovely, the name itself sends us into dreaming rose petals and porcelain skin.
The generic Nivea is pretty bland in comparison.
Products are sometimes strategically named to arouse romantic sentiments. Words like Coke and Pepsi have no meaning for us, but turn to the South Asian Maaza, and there you go, a name that suggests fun!
The most interesting of these sentimental names are seen in the washing soaps of Nepal. Apparently the washing soap industry of Nepal is fiercely competitive, judging from the rate that new brands come up.
Almost every day we have a new washing soap, and their names get fancier and fancier, starting from Puja, and going on to Arati, Dalli, OK, 72 percent, and many more.
Popular western cleaning detergents try to highlight their strengths and efficiency: Vim means strength, and Tide and Surf refer to powerful jets of water, whereas the saccharine names in Nepal have no discernible relations to cleaning.
The names of popular tea brands are equally fanciful and bears no relation to tea.
Taj Mahal: Not satisfied with building a monument, did Shah Jahan name a tea after his beloved wife as well? Kailash chiya: Kailash Parvat is where Shivaji lives, is this his favorite drink? Funny, I always thought his favorite drink was Halahal Vish. Tokla: Who even knows what it means? Foreign tea brands like Brooke Bond, Earl Gray and Lipton are again lost upon us.
Another South Asian brand-naming strategy is to evoke the senses - sight, smell, sound, and the like. Look at “Kurkure”, the very name reminds us of the crunch-crunch sound that we make while eating chips, hehe. Compare it to Lays, a generic name used across all countries.
The name Lays means nothing at all to us. And then there is the Nepali chocolate Chocó-bite, again reminding us of taking bites. Alongside it are names of chocolates that we don’t understand: Nestle, Cadbury, Mars...
So what are the western products actually named after? Often, they come from the names of their own founders. Johnson and Johnson, McDonald’s and Disney are some of the examples of such branding by the owner’s name.
Hindustan Lever and Nepal Lever are parts of Unilever, which is named after their original owners Lever Brothers, and not after Johnny Lever.
Mars chocolates are not named after the planet Mars, and Proctor and Gamble were not gambled away.
Lipton tea is not named so because tons of tea has got anything to do with lips. Brooke Bond is not named after James Bond or Brooke Shields. Nestle is neither a bird’s nest, nor warm hugs.
Cadbury is not a buried cat (as I thought with horror as a child.) And no, Colgate is definitely not the college gate, even though all the advertisements show college kids. These were all named after their founders.
Sometimes western products are not named after their owners, but after their scientific capacity.
The more scientific the names sound, the better. Neutrogena, for example, is a leading face cream. Its name is made up of two parts: “Neutro” coming from nutrition and “gena” coming from generate.
This lotion is actually going to “gene” rate nutrition. It promises objective, scientific and measurable benefits instead of the sentimental qualities like fairness and loveliness.
This form of naming usually combines two words: the first part says what the product will give, and the second part is an appendage that suggests action.
It is actually a pretty common strategy found in many Western brand names. For example, Blistex, a popular brand of lip balm in America, scientifically promises to cure ‘blisters’.
In the famous Viagra, “vi” derives its name from virility which means positive male characteristics like vigor and strength. The traditional proof of virility was the number of children you had.
The second part “gra” is a generic appendage that ‘gives’ virility. Dayquil and Nyquil, day and night versions of cold medicine, promise you a tranquil time in the day and night. In Nepal, the cough syrup Honeytus is popular, which promises nothing but a taste of wonderful honey.
Another western strategy is to include the ingredients of the product into the product name. A famous example is Coke that originally contained “coc”aine.
There are also some brands that manage to combine the scientific promise with owners’ names. For example, the original Vick of Vick’s VapoRub is the manufacturer’s brother-in-law; Vapo and Rub of course mean vapor (steam) and rubbing motion, two things that we often use Vicks for.
There are a few exceptions to this rule that manage to throw us off: Sunsilk, we would think, is a South Asian brand, with its sentimental focus on sun and silky hair.
But no, it happens to be a British brand. Grooming products like Axe come out with suggestive names every other day (Hypnotic, African Duo, Touch, and many more).
But on the whole, the trend of sentiments versus science is a significant trend by which we can differentiate between brands made for Nepali and worldwide clients.
Sewa is currently doing her Masters in Sociology at Western Illinois University, US.
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