# AOL Not Locally Branded In International Markets: Why? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 30, 2002, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aol-not-locally-branded-in-international-markets-why/139645 "2002-11-30T16:33:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SC\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@SC\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SC_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2002, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aol-not-locally-branded-in-international-markets-why/139645/1 "2002-11-30T16:33:28Z")
Does anyone know why America Online is sold as America Online worldwide? Why they never rebranded the service as Europe Online/Asia Online overseas? Name recognition? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2002, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aol-not-locally-branded-in-international-markets-why/139645/2 "2002-11-30T16:45:31Z")
I’d plump for the latter. Though they only use the initials AOL here in Ireland. Which competes with IOL! Incidentally, my father (who lives in the US) signed up for AOL’s “World Connect” dialup service, then went to England only to find out that the service didn’t work outside the US. Bit like the World Series… ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2002, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aol-not-locally-branded-in-international-markets-why/139645/3 "2002-11-30T18:24:26Z")
It is branded, just not to the degree that you’re expecting. There’s AOL France, and AOL Germany, and an AOL for pretty much every country with a major market. I guess they figured that the name recognition was worth more than the “America” part could hurt.