Americans like to use Brand names vs. generic name!

[Joecy]

I know these Companies/Brands have been in the US for as long as people can remember, they dominate the market, probably had very cute Advertisement, and those ads. songs stuck in your head as a child. But very hard for Chinese ladies to figure out what are you talking about???

 

Bring me a box of Kleenex (tissue paper. What about other brands? So discriminated ).

http://www.mysavings.com/img/link/large/5246.jpg

 

 

Bring a ring of bologna to a tailgate party (sausage in a ring shape)

http://www.chermakeprivatelabel.com/how-we-make-it/options/images/R_Bol_group.jpg

 

 

 

What else??

 

[dnoblett]

It all depends, for the most part my wife and I like Aldi for their low price generic products. Also where we live we have the #1 Grocery chain in the USA Wegmans, many of their generic products are just fine. Another off brand company that is quite popular is Trader Joes.

 

https://www.aldi.us/

http://www.traderjoes.com/

http://www.wegmans.com/

[Mick]

Bologna, often called "baloney", is not a brand name. It is a type of meat and sometimes comes in a ring. It can also come in a stick, or a slab, or even sliced in a package. Ring Bologna is thus not a brand name. In the pics you posted, the brand name is Cher-Make, the type of meat is bologna, and the shape is a ring. I can see how this can get confusing for recent arrivals. Your example of Kleenex is a great one. Kleenex was most likely the first and most dominant brand of tissue paper.

[dnoblett]

One more note about the generic vs brand name, I use to drive 18 wheel truck, many times picking up "generic" products at the same factories that produce the name brand stuff. You never know, many store brands are actually the same as the name brand products.

[Randy W]

We use "Kleenex" to refer to ANY brand of tissue paper. When someone asks for a Kleenex, they mean tissue paper.

 

"Coke" is an example of a brand name that was enforced. Coca-Cola employees would go to restaurants and ask for "Coke" by name. If the restaurant carried Pepsi or some other brand, the server was required to reply, "We don't serve Coke. Would you like a Pepsi instead?" The Coca-Cola company was known to sue to enforce their trade-mark that way. Cola is the generic name (the equivalent in Chinese is kele), so someone ordering a 'cola' could be served any brand.

 

But, like 'Kleenex', the word 'Coke' can be used colloquially to refer to ANY soft drink. As long as the server asks, "Can I get you a <____>, instead?", they avoid the Coca-Cola police.

[dnoblett]

We use "Kleenex" to refer to ANY brand of tissue paper. When someone asks for a Kleenex, they mean tissue paper.

 

"Coke" is an example of a brand name that was enforced. Coca-Cola employees would go to restaurants and ask for "Coke" by name. If the restaurant carried Pepsi or some other brand, the server was required to reply, "We don't serve Coke. Would you like a Pepsi instead?" The Coca-Cola company was known to sue to enforce their trade-mark that way. Cola is the generic name (the equivalent in Chinese is kele), so someone ordering a 'cola' could be served any brand.

 

But, like 'Kleenex', the word 'Coke' can be used colloquially to refer to ANY soft drink. As long as the server asks, "Can I get you a <____>, instead?", they avoid the Coca-Cola police.

This is quite true, what Coca-Cola is doing is protecting their brand from being generalized, my home town is home to brands like Kodak and Xerox, both these companies had to fight to protect their brand names, at one time people started referring to activities such as taking a picture as taking a "Kodak", and and making a Photostatic copy as making a "Xerox" these companies had to fight this or loose their brand names.

 

Examples of lost brand names:

 

• Aspirin Still a Bayer trademark name for acetylsalicylic acid in about 80 countries, including Canada and many countries in Europe, but declared generic in the U.S.
• Catseye Originally a trademark for a specific type of retroreflective road safety installation.
• Cellophane Still a registered trademark of Innovia Films Ltd in Europe and many other jurisdictions. Genericized in the U.S. Originally a trademark of DuPont. A thin, transparent sheet made of regenerated cellulose.
• Dry ice Trademarked by the Dry Ice Corporation of America in 1925. A solid form of carbon dioxide.
• Escalator Originally a trademark of Otis Elevator Company.
• Heroin Trademarked by Friedrich Bayer & Co in 1898.
• Kerosene First used around 1852.
• Lanolin Trademarked as the term for a preparation of water and the wax from sheep's wool.
• Laundromat Coin laundry shop. Westinghouse trademark, registered in the U.S. in the 1940s (automatic washing machine) and 1950s (coin laundry) but now expired.
• Linoleum Floor covering, originally coined by Frederick Walton in 1864, and ruled as generic following a lawsuit for trademark infringement in 1878; probably the first product name to become a generic term.
• Mimeograph Originally trademarked by Albert Dick. A low-cost printing press that works by forcing ink through a stencil onto paper.

More...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_generic_and_genericized_trademarks

[Beachey]

Another one is Thermos, the generic name is vacuum flask.

 

That is interesting about the Coke versus Pepsi, didn't know it was due to Coke protecting their trademark.

Edited August 8, 2014 by Beachey (see edit history)

[Thomas Promise]

Generic brands have been around a long time. They started to gain popularity in the mid 70s. Reason being the cost vs the National brand. You can find generic brands from textiles to candy bars. The National brand relies on customer loyalty and name recognition. Yankee ingenuity. Sell the sizzle not the steak.

[Randy W]

One thing I found interesting about China is the LACK of a cola (kele) war. No cheap imitations or supermarket brands there. If you want a kele, it's Coke (可口可乐 - Kekou Kele) or Pepsi (百事可乐 - Baishi Kele) - either is usually asked for by saying 'kele'.

[Allon]

I agree that generic is often cheaper and the same product so with small ticket items, it doesn't matter. But with large ticket items like bedding and especially some foods, you know what you are buying (think Costco not Kroger) and usually most studies for the "best" item use the brand name. At Costco for instance, I have gotten coffee or olive oil from the so-called "trade-free" brands that are like buying generics. But most of the time, I was disappointed in the variance between quality and price. And with a brand name, there is usually a place you can go to take it back. Most generics do too since they are usually the store brand but I have called to complain about some things, and my questions were answered quicker from a brand name product.

 

As far as drugs or medicines, always buy generic. I have a thing about Big Pharma.

[Greg.D.]

One more note about the generic vs brand name, I use to drive 18 wheel truck, many times picking up "generic" products at the same factories that produce the name brand stuff. You never know, many store brands are actually the same as the name brand products.

As a student, I did a lot of work in food quality and I understood that a company/factory could and would make different levels of quality items in the same plant - depending on the range of quality of raw material they received. So, separating it as it came in, they could make on contract what you wanted. Best quality was usually brand name, followed by store brands and then packing the rest for whatever label somebody wants to put on it. It would be a mistake for somebody to think (I know you're not saying it here) that everything from a particular plant was the same.

 

So, brand names are usually higher quality because the brand itself has value (can be bought and sold) so the owners of the brand will usually protect the perceived quality of the brand by usually putting their label on the good stuff.

Some things are such a commodity it's hard to separate them on quality: I think canola oil, for example: I will buy Brand X and not worry about it.

Greg

[Greg.D.]

What I would like to know, and I think it is critical to the Chinese shoppers here, is whether or not outlet stores are actually selling the same quality items that are sold at the main stores. I know I've brought a lot of Chinese visitors to Coach outlet stores (and they parted with a lot of cash) but I'm reading here and there that "everybody knows" it's not the same as the first quality stuff as is at a real Coach store in a high end shopping area. (this link)

 

So, if anybody has first hand information on that, I would like to know if this is true,

Greg

[Joecy]

Mick, Thanks for the explanation on that confusing ring of sausage

 

Coke is a great one too! Chinese would know what this is though.

 

Anything else, like the use of Kleenex?

[Dennis143]

What I would like to know, and I think it is critical to the Chinese shoppers here, is whether or not outlet stores are actually selling the same quality items that are sold at the main stores. I know I've brought a lot of Chinese visitors to Coach outlet stores (and they parted with a lot of cash) but I'm reading here and there that "everybody knows" it's not the same as the first quality stuff as is at a real Coach store in a high end shopping area. (this link)

 

So, if anybody has first hand information on that, I would like to know if this is true,

 

Greg

Interesting question, Greg. Here in SoCal there are Chinese business women who hire and caravan Chinese women (my wife included) on shopping sprees to these outlets to specifically buy Coach purses. The outlets limit a maximum purchase of 3 purses. So, they buy those 3 purses times 10 women equals 30 purses and the LaoBan pays them each $50 cash for their time. I'm told that the purses are taken to China and sold for 4 times or more over the outlet purchase price.

 

Let's face it, it's the brand name and the belief that the purse is the real deal are what's important to the women who end up buying them. Apparently, this outlet buying is a profitable business.

[warpedbored]

 

What I would like to know, and I think it is critical to the Chinese shoppers here, is whether or not outlet stores are actually selling the same quality items that are sold at the main stores. I know I've brought a lot of Chinese visitors to Coach outlet stores (and they parted with a lot of cash) but I'm reading here and there that "everybody knows" it's not the same as the first quality stuff as is at a real Coach store in a high end shopping area. (this link)

 

So, if anybody has first hand information on that, I would like to know if this is true,

 

Greg

Interesting question, Greg. Here in SoCal there are Chinese business women who hire and caravan Chinese women (my wife included) on shopping sprees to these outlets to specifically buy Coach purses. The outlets limit a maximum purchase of 3 purses. So, they buy those 3 purses times 10 women equals 30 purses and the LaoBan pays them each $50 cash for their time. I'm told that the purses are taken to China and sold for 4 times or more over the outlet purchase price.

 

Let's face it, it's the brand name and the belief that the purse is the real deal are what's important to the women who end up buying them. Apparently, this outlet buying is a profitable business.

 

A friend of my wife does this too except the Coach outlet stores in the Portland area (3) allow 10 purses. My wife goes along once in a while. They give her $35.00 when she does. I'll have to tell her they give $50.00 in LA.