Years ago, Google had to take serious measures to protect their trademark so that the search engine name would not become generic. That way, when you say you google a word, you are specifically referring to ‘Google’ as the search engine used in finding out information about the word online rather than other search engines.
In Lagos, a lot of products and brand names have become generic names of other similar products and are not used to refer to a single product again. This is either because of the popularity of that product or perhaps the product is the first of its kind.
Here are 5 brand names that are now being used as general product names in Lagos
Maggi
To most sellers and buyers in Lagos, Maggi is the name of all seasonings. Tell a market woman you want to buy Maggi and she’ll ask you: ‘Which one? Meaning which type of ‘Maggi’ do you want. Maggi is however the name of a particular brand of seasoning but has now become a general product name amongst trades and their customers.
Indomie
Who goes to a trader in a market and request for noodles? The seller is sure to give you a questioning look or even tell you the product is not being sold there. Instead the adopted name is Indomie which is a popular brand of noodles, but has now transcended that particular product to other noodles.
Gala
Gala is a very popular sausage in Lagos but is now becoming ‘generated’ to represent every brand of sausage. Hawkers of the products advertise them as Gala and you need to specify the brand of ‘Gala’ that you want.
Viju
Viju is a brand of milk drink that comes in different flavours. It is however fast becoming a generic name for other plastic milk drinks in Lagos. Viju is arguably the first of its kind and the name is now synonymous to other brands of the product.
Flit
Flit is an old brand of insecticide and the product is almost non-existence in Lagos but the name ‘Flit’ is now being used to refer to all brands of insecticides and most people don’t even know it’s a brand name. it is now a genericeised name of the product.
This aim of this article is to explore the Lagos market and point out popular names of brand. It is not meant to promote a particular brand or pass a judgement on the use of generic names of products but rather to bring attention to what is already in existence.
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