The "Doggone" Peril of Brand Names
I was in the grocery store the other day when, turning a corner, I was greeted by a stack of those big sacks of dog food. You know the ones, right? The kind Marmaduke the Great Dane would make a light snack of.
Anyway, take note of the brand name: Old Yeller.
Well, I don’t mind tellin’ ya folks; I was a mite taken aback!
Notice the brand name just above the word “Old”. My first thought was, those folks over at the Mouse Kingdom oughtta know better! I mean, doesn’t anybody remember: the dog died at the end!
Sheesh.
Anyhoo; it made me think about how brand names, no matter how appropriate – or ridiculous – come about.
Oh, sure; most likely there had to be some sort of testing done. ( I have this vision of a room full of dogs. The tester says, “Doggie Bits”, then counts the number of barks it generates. “OK, four. Now, how about ‘Old Yeller’? Aha; 10 barks! ‘Old Yeller it is!”)
Awright; maybe they were people instead of dogs. But I gotta wonder; did anyone in that group ever see the movie? Most likely, if they were from my generation they probably did. But younger folk may not have – and subsequently not know about the sad – and if you’re a kid, rather traumatic – ending.
Who would want to remember that every time they fed their faithful family pet? It’s kinda like sayin’, “Here ya go, Rufus; eat up, ’cause tomorrow you die!”
What about it? Anyone else thinkin’ the same way as me, or am I, er, barkin’ up the wrong tree? (Sorry.)
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Photo: Old Yeller Dog Food, by Robert Hruzek
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I have an idea! Maybe the guys who thought of this name were like Phoebe from Friends and their moms stopped the movie before it all turned bad. Maybe they don’t know the dog died
.-= Alina Popescu´s last blog ..Why press releases should not be a treasure hunt! =-.
Robert,
No fleas on you! That there is a real interesting piece of branding!
It’s kind of like some advertising you see on the TV – You’re shaking your head at how terrible the ad was and then you remember that this thing had to be thought up, looked at and approved through probably dozens of people prior to airing and you wonder how it ever made it that far.
George
.-= Tumblemoose´s last blog ..Positively Excited About the New Blog of the Week =-.
Robert, Common sense is not common!
Sheila
Certainly separates this food from the pack. Copy on the back could read, “And another way to lower the costs of feeding your dog, as seen in the movie, …”
.-= Fred H Schlegel´s last blog ..When Thinking Out Of The Box, You Might Just Want To Think In The Box =-.
@Alina – You may be right; it would certainly explain the terrible faux pas!
@Tumblemoose – I’m with ya, George! You just KNOW there’s a whole herd o’ folks who’ve seen it. Just no one with the, um, somethingorother to express an opinion, I guess. *sigh*
@Sheila – So true, Sheila; so true… :-\
@Fred – Oh, ewwwww! (and not to mention, Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!)
Robert, This is a fascinating example of a term that has outlived its meaning. I’ll betcha there are far fewer folks around who remember the Old Yeller story compared to those who simply know it’s the name of a nice movie dog. No doubt, this theory was tested in focus groups beforehand. The fact the name makes no literal sense – would that stop you from using the name if you thought it would sell the product like hotcakes? I’m not saying I know the answer, but it’s an important question for marketers.
.-= Brad Shorr´s last blog ..10 Essential Twitter Writing Tips =-.
Egads… this is about the worst product branding ever. Maybe they are banking on the confidence of the generation of kids who have never seen the film.
Up next: Walt Disney World’s The Red Pony rides.
.-= Elizabeth´s last blog ..On Finding Things Lost… =-.
@Brad – Well, I suppose you’re right. But I’ll tell ya, you won’t find ME buyin’ that stuff for ol’ Spot! He might get the wrong idea, y’know?
@Elizabeth – That’s gotta be it. That’s funny about The Red Pony, too.
(NOTE: for those of you who don’t know, that’s yet another traumatic “child’s-favorite-animal-up-and-dies-on-him” story we had to read back in grade school. Sheesh, it’s a wonder any of us came out of that time untainted, y’know?)
Robert — I laughed out loud at this post. It is amazing how people don’t realize that NOT everything Disney puts out is HAPPY:~) Personally, I hated Old Yeller. It was of the books that convinced me to start checking the ending before I read the beginning. After I had to watch the movie at school (and sobbed through most of it), I don’t often watch animal movie’s anymore.
I still can’t believe a dog food company could be so crazy!!! Thanks for laugh at the end of my day:~)
.-= Sara´s last blog ..Hullabaloo Muse =-.
@Sara – I can’t believe it either! And maybe we’re two of a kind ’cause I hated Old Yeller (the movie, that is) too. ‘Waaay too sappy for me. Give me a good space opera anytime!
Can’t agree more with this being a very bad marketing decision. Instead of this tragic character they could pick among many other, less tragic Disney dogs. Pluto anyone?
@Prevod – Totally true, Bubba! Pluto; now there’s a good, fun Disney character that would appeal!
Looking at the bag and grand I can’t help but giggle. Great post. Thanks.
Loved this post, Robert! And I was thinking exactly the same thing when I saw this stuff at Kroger last weekend. “Whose brilliant idea was this?” Heh.
.-= Kyle´s last blog ..SkyWatch Friday #58 =-.
@Ventrilo – Hey, I have to admit to a belly laugh or two after the initial surprise.
@Kyle – Some folks, y’know? But you won’t catch me feedin’ this stuff to MY dog! Even if I, y’know, had one.
Interesting point, the one thing I will say is that lower end products with funny/embarrassing names sometimes can make names for themself. We see it happen in the wine/beer industry all the time
@Mark – Well, that’s true; negative image marketing is still marketing. But would you want your product linked to the image of a dead dog? Just sayin’.
Robert, I must say that dog is the most loyal and faithful animal. I used to have a brown-colored Great Dane as a pet. Believe me, although they’re huge in size, but they’re one of the most gentle types of dogs! I missed the old days…
Robert, you are definitely not barking up the wrong tree. Old Yeller is a horrible name for a dog food, for consumers old enough to remember the movie the name would be a deterrent and for younger consumers it lacks relevancy. Very poor decision on the company’s part and even if they’re 20, they certainly should have checked the origin of “Old Yeller” before adopting it as a name.
.-= Karen Swim´s last blog ..55,000 Web sites hacked to serve up malware cocktail | Zero Day | ZDNet.com =-.
@Wilson – As a general rule, I don’t like pets who grow up taller than me!
@Karen – You’d think so, wouldn’t ya? Sheesh; sometimes ya gotta wonder who’s running the asylum over there, y’know?
As a lifelong fan of Old Yeller, I can’t believe anyone would do label dog food with his name. Maybe their intention was for the food to represent the very beginning of the film, not the part where he gets rabies. If it was the latter part, that’s a bad marketing ploy.
@Kyle – Seemed like a bad move to me!