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NFL Commentators Still Calling Microsoft's Surface Tablets "iPads"
AmiMoJo writes: Back in 2013, Microsoft inked a $400 million deal with the NFL to promote the Surface. Unfortunately for Microsoft, commentators and even players couldn't help themselves from referring to the tablets as iPads. Last year, announcers referred to the Surface as an "iPad-like tablet,", while Chicago Bears quarterback called them "knockoff iPads". It happened on more than one occasion, and while you can bet that Microsoft and the NFL have been in talks with announcers and players about the goof, little progress is being made. This year, the problem persists.
The commentators are supposed to be professionals and plugging products is part of their profession. Do they fuck up the "Brought to you by Dodge: Take a stand against ordinary." plugs? No. And, if they did, they'd be getting yelled at during the next commercial break. Can you imagine if they said "Brought to you by the Toyota F-150, heartbeat of America." when the dodge logo popped up on the screen? (I just picked Dodge and their slogan out of thin air. I have no idea if Dodge advertises like that during NFL games but you get what I mean.) The tablets are a product and it's being advertised. Microsoft has paid a ton of money for this product placement and I find it hard to believe that their contract doesn't include assurances that their products will be correctly referenced a minimum number of times per game. And it probably has penalties for misidentification. Like calling their devices by the trademarked name of their biggest competitor. You don't need to be an expert on the product you're plugging to get the name right.
No matter how good, how useful a product is, if the name is stupid, it won't be remember
Take toilet paper - what brand of toilet paper can you think of?
Take sport drinks - other than Gatorade, what are the other brands you can remember?
Ice tea ... can you pronounce 'loo-zee-ann'?
Microsoft Windows successfully toppled OS/2 because the 'OS/2' name was too fucking awkward
iPad, iPhone, iPod are popular not only because of their functionality - they have crispy clear sounding name
As for Microsoft Surface? Who the fuck can remember that?
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
Well my mum still calls a vacuum cleaner a hoover. That isn't worthy of a slashdot article either
No, it becomes genericized when people, not the makers or stores, start calling all items of the type by the brand name of one.