Speedo as a Brand

I was thinking about the terms Kleenex, Xerox, Q-tip and Coke and how we use these terms whenever we use this type of product, not necessarily the type of product that it actually is (like Scott tissues, etc.). I would have thought that this was good advertising for companies because then everyone knows your name and is aware that your company is involved with a certain product. I guess I was wrong though. It seems as though people forget that there was an original company like Xerox for example. They just think that when you photocopy something you are Xeroxing, and most people do not take the time to think about where that word came from, a particular brand. This could be bad for the brand because it becomes a generic use and is referred to as generecide in Practices of Looking. I was determined to find another example of this type of branding gone awry.

I thought of the Speedo. When hearing the word Speedo, everyone automatically thinks of a man wearing a small suit. This suit is actually called a swim brief (look it up on wikipedia, they will redirect you from the Speedo company page to a page entitled swim brief). This is interesting to me because I am a swimmer and I know that Speedo is a brand that makes womens suits, goggles, caps, swim equipment, triathlon gear, workout clothing and many other things. But, the name Speedo has been placed on a small piece of fabric worn by daring people (in the swimming world though all of the good people wear "speedos" like Micheal Phelps for example). In fact many brands make these swim briefs, TYR, Nike, Dolfin and Arena to name a few. This label that has been given to swim briefs has been speedo for a long time, but we need to remember that it is a brand, not the name of the actual product (unless you are wearing a Speedo speedo). This generecide could be bad for the Speedo company, as the term becomes used to describe other brands suits. Speedo has been fortunate enough that they are a large company with many other endeavors and sponsorships of important sports figures so that the brand is not going to lose its identity. Speedo doesn't do too much advertising on TV, but in the swimming world they advertise in magazines, websites and wherever they think people using their products are likely to roam. I'm sure they don't care too much about the man who buys a Speedo once every three years, they want direct contact with people who are swimming competitively and going through one suit every month or so. Their advertising normally features famous swimmers in their bathing suits, which are normally not mens briefs, they are normally women's suits, or their competition line of suits (LZR, Fastskin). This may be an attempt to showcase the other parts of the Speedo brand that aren't as well known.

(Below is a picture of Olympian Amanda Beard in an ad for the new line of Speedo active wear).