BSA motorcycles were somewhat popular back in the '60s and '70s. The name came from Birmingham Small Arms; originally a gun manufacturer that branched out to bicycles, and then motorcycles.
Another Disney paradox is the name of one of it’s current film production subsidiaries; 20th Century Studios
CCM, the hockey equipment maker, stands for Canada Cycle and Motor Co.
Canadian Tire sells tires, but it’s a relatively small part of their operations.
On this side of the border, there’s Farm & Fleet.
Barney Google and Snuffy Smith has been mostly Barney Google-less since the mid-50s.
Don’t know if this fits but what about Jimmy Dean breakfast foods. I presume they were popular initially because of his fame - Country singer, cross-over hits, The Jimmy Dean Show, other TV roles, and in a James Bond movie with Sean Connery.
He currently still voices his own commercials despite being dead since 2010.
I remember a time in the 1970s when there was rarely, if any, Mike Doonesbury in Doonesbury
Of course, but no mention is made of that. Most younger folks probably assume he is still voicing the new commercials. That’s why I though it might fit the paradox.
The Swallow Sidecar Company gave birth to SS Cars, thence Jaguar Cars.
My dad worked for an airline with planes powered by Rolls Royce engines. At some point he met a rep from Rolls Royce who gave him a pin with the company logo on it; looked just like the logo on their cars.
And Amos practically disappeared from the radio sitcom Amos ‘n’ Andy.
There is (or was – it’s been a while since I’ve been to D-land) a jewelry shop on Main Street with a ton of Mickey Mouse watches at widely spread price ranges. I don’t think the cheap Mickey Mouse watch is much of a thing any more. I certainly haven’t hear it since I’ve been an adult starting in the 70s. When I was in college “mickey mouse” was used to describe classes that were easy A’s – classes for athletes.
When I was a kid in Montreal, in the 70s, CCM was famous for its bicycles.
FWIW, Disney opened Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railroad in 2020, a ride at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Orlando. It has new cartoon content with Mickey Mouse.
I recognize that one ride doesn’t refute the “almost no Mickey Mouse cartoons”, but thought it was worth mentioning.
The Buffalo Bills of the NFL were clearly named after frontiersman Buffalo Bill Cody, but I don’t believe his image has ever in any way been used by the team.
Have we ever seen Charlie Brown eat peanuts?
Besides cartoons (and made-for-TV cartoons). Mickey Mouse has appeared in newspaper comic strips and his own comic book, the former from 1930 until 1995 and the latter off and on from 1941 to 2017. Even Carl Barks has done one Mickey story.
And that’s not even considering the many Little Golden Books, Coloring Books, etc. Mickey has been a continuing presence in Disney output throughout the corporation’s existence.
There’s also European comic books like France’s “Mickey Parade”.
There is a great MM continuity reprinted in its entirety in the The Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics, a book that everyone should own that is crazy underpriced for what it is- gorgeous. Compared to the dynamic action hero in the papers, the Mickey everyone knows is as bland and inoffensive as Ziggy and Garfield.