A recent Wall Street Journal article notes that due to popular demand (and the ardent passion of zealous Hydrox lovers) Kellogg Co. is bringing back the Hydrox brand cookie. The Hydrox faded owing to the popularity of its competitor, the Oreo cookie, or for who knows what conspiratorial reasons.
Frankly, I'm not all that crazy about either one, though one of them was surely great for dunking into milk just before bed eons ago. 'member dat?
Hydrox. Do you think the choice of name hurt? "A good product name for a toilet cleaner, maybe, but a cookie?" Those are the words of a Dan Lerner, 75, a Hydrox fan quoted in the WSJ piece. (Not that Oreo is that great a name either, in my view.)
I always thought they should have a promotional night at the ballpark in Baltimore; call it Baltimore Oreos Night and give out free cookies. Maybe give out free serial commas along with Kellogg's cereal at another ballpark.
Work with me here. I've been slipping on my own branding. I mean, where are all the aphorisms with laughs? Where have all the laughorisms gone?
Hydrox. What a name. Can anyone nominate some other bad product names?
(Ah, the Internet. Sure enough, there's a blog devoted to bad product names. Of course. There would be. There's everything else. And we mean everything.)
