GM recalls every Chevy ever made, then says “Oops, never mind.”

[Dennis Baron]

There's a new post on the Web of Language: GM recalls every Chevy ever  
made, then says “Oops, never mind.”

On Tuesday, General Motors sent a memo asking Chevy employees to stop  
using the name Chevy, one of oldest and most common American brand  
nicknames: “We’d ask that whether you’re talking to a dealer,  
reviewing dealer advertising, or speaking with friends and family,  
that you communicate our brand as Chevrolet moving forward.”

Calling for brand consistency, the memos authors cite Coke and Apple  
as well-known examples of consistent branding, though as the New York  
Times pointed out, Coke is a nickname for Coca Cola, and Apple  
products tend to be called, not by their corporate moniker, but by  
individual product names such as Mac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad.

The Times further reports that GM backed up its recall of the name  
Chevy with fines for employees: “a sort of cuss jar -- a plastic  
‘Chevy’ can -- has been placed in the hallway. Every time someone uses  
‘Chevy' rather than Chevrolet,” employees were expected to put a  
quarter in the can.

But faced with a combination of ridicule and customer loyalty to the  
Chevy brand, GM retracted its Chevy recall two days later, at least  
for customers and fans, though employees were apparently still  
expected to refer to “Chevrolet” so as not to confuse the  
nonanglophone market, where Chevy hopes to expand its sales.

Read the full post on the Web of Language: http://bit.ly/weblan
____________________
Dennis Baron
Professor of English and Linguistics
Department of English
University of Illinois
608 S. Wright St.
Urbana, IL 61801

office: 217-244-0568
fax: 217-333-4321

http://www.illinois.edu/goto/debaron

read the Web of Language:
http://www.illinois.edu/goto/weboflanguage

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