Anthimeria

Have you Netflixed ‘1983’?

Have you Ubered to reach office today?

Have you Instagrammed a selfie (and Photoshoped before upload) today?

Have you WhatsApped a Happy Holi message last week?

Have you Xeroxed class notes, Zoomed to attend classes/meetings, and Googled answers during a test?

If you have done any one of these, you are suffering from anthimeria.

We all suffer from it.

Don’t worry, it is not a deadly disease.

So, what is ‘it’?

Anthimeria comes from anti-meros (Greek) which means “using one part for another”. In marketing, it refers to using a word in a new grammatical form. Specifically, the use of a noun (brand name) as a verb.

A few memorable examples where a brand is synonymous with the product category are Band-aid (a Johnson & Johnson trademark) = medicated first-aid dressing, Kleenex=tissues, Bubble wrap (Sealed Air Corp.) =sealed air packaging, Vaseline (from Unilever) =petroleum jelly, Sellotape (from Henkel) =transparent adhesive tape, Bisleri=packaged drinking water, and Fevicol=adhesive.

As a brand name is associated with the generic product class it ends up being a household name and it seeps into the popular culture, becomes the market leader and dominates the market – dream situation for brand marketers, right? Well…not always. The above-mentioned brand Bubble Wrap faced brand dilution and ended up becoming just another brand in its domain - “a victim of its own success” (experts call this phenomenon genericide. But, that’s a different story).

It may lead to a bitter legal battle sometimes.  

In 2013, Google and the Language Council of Sweden battled a new Swedish word ogooglebar (meaning: “something that cannot be found on the web using a search engine”) should be added in the Swedish lexicon. Google’s legal team opposed it and argued that it might lead to Google’s brand dilution and violation of trademark. The company proposed to restrict the meaning of the word to “something that cannot be found on the web using Google” only. As a result of this legal tussle, the council decided to kill the word and later accused Google of trying to control the language.

As you know now about anthimeria application in marketing, are you going to buy from Amazon or Amazoning?