The Forgotten Names Behind Famous Brands
Famous brands and products can be so closely associated with their names that it's difficult to imagine them being called anything else. However, some of the world's most recognizable products started life under different names.
Caleb Bradham, a pharmacist in North Carolina, created Pepsi-Cola in the 1890s under the name 'Brad's Drink.' In 1898, he renamed it Pepsi-Cola, giving the soda its now-famous identity. Similarly, Larry Page and Sergey Brin initially called their search engine 'BackRub' due to its backlink analysis technology.
Jeff Bezos incorporated his online bookstore as 'Cadabra,' but after the name was reportedly misheard as 'cadaver,' he reconsidered and eventually chose 'Amazon.' Kevin Systrom developed 'Burbn,' an app that initially included check-ins, plans, and photo sharing, before focusing on photos and rebuilding it into Instagram.
Other well-known brands with different origins include Play-Doh, which was sold as a wallpaper cleaner before becoming a children's modeling compound, and Cheerios, which were originally called 'CheeriOats' but were renamed due to trademark disputes.
Kool-Aid originated from Edwin Perkins' concentrated liquid fruit drink 'Fruit Smack,' while Twix was known as 'Raider' in several European countries before being standardized under the Twix name. Starburst, or rather Opal Fruits, debuted in Britain in 1960 and has had various branding over the years.
Cotton Candy was initially introduced at the 1904 World's Fair as 'Fairy Floss,' while Corn Pops were renamed from 'Sugar Corn Pops' to 'Corn Pops' due to changing attitudes towards sugar. Mr. Clean, a well-known cleaning product, has carried different names in various international markets.
Lay's potato chips were originally sold under the Barrett Food Products name before Herman Lay built the H.W. Lay & Company brand. Nike shoes were initially distributed by Blue Ribbon Sports before emerging as the Nike brand in the early 1970s.