# Why do companies give products different names in different countries then change the name to match **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 1, 2013, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-companies-give-products-different-names-in-different-countries-then-change-the-name-to-match/662310 "2013-07-01T02:07:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![amanda138a](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@amanda138a](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanda138a)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-companies-give-products-different-names-in-different-countries-then-change-the-name-to-match/662310/1 "2013-07-01T02:07:29Z")
For example Snickers was marathon in the UK then changed to snickers or Jif became cif Opal fruits became starburst Immac became veet The originals I have mentioned ie Jif, Marathon are from the UK not sure if the name change has ever been done the other way. Would love to know why it’s done ---
**Author:** ![sco3tt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@sco3tt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sco3tt)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-companies-give-products-different-names-in-different-countries-then-change-the-name-to-match/662310/2 "2013-07-01T03:54:53Z")
[Jif](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cif) (the cleaning product) shares its name with a popular U.S.-made [peanut butter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jif_(peanut_butter)) (which predated the cleaning product by a decade, per wiki), so I would guess that has something to do with the name change to Cif. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-companies-give-products-different-names-in-different-countries-then-change-the-name-to-match/662310/3 "2013-07-01T04:03:23Z")
I don’t know, but I have also wondered. It has always seemed to me that Snickers (which means a sort of mean, suppressed laughter) is a terrible name for a chocolate bar (or indeed, almost anything). Marathon was a much better name. Opal Fruits was also a better name for fruit flavoured chews of an opalescent colour than the meaningless Starburst. Not all British sweets have had their names changed to bring them into line with America, though. What the British call Mars Bars are Milky Ways in America, and what the British call Milky Ways are Three Musketeers (😕) over there. Back in the 1980s I did see something called a Mars bar on sale in the USA. I think it was like a Mars Bar/Milky Way with nuts in it. However, I never saw one again all through the time I lived in the US through the '90s and '00s. Presumably it was discontinued. (I am not sure how it differed from a Snickers, except that it was a lager bar I think.) It may be worth noting that all the items mentioned above are made by the (American based) Mars company. SO this question is largely about that company’s practices. In Britain, Jif (or maybe Jiff) is, or certainly was, also a well known brand of lemon juice, which may explain why the cleaning product changed its name. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-companies-give-products-different-names-in-different-countries-then-change-the-name-to-match/662310/4 "2013-07-01T04:11:02Z")
Mars products, incidentally, have a long history in Britain. My mother (who died last year at 95) remembered Mars Bars (Milky Ways in America) from when she was a little girl. But Opal Fruits and Marathons were around for quite along time under those names too. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-companies-give-products-different-names-in-different-countries-then-change-the-name-to-match/662310/5 "2013-07-01T04:34:30Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Not all British sweets have had their names changed to bring them into line with America, though. What the British call Mars Bars are Milky Ways in America, and what the British call Milky Ways are Three Musketeers (😕) over there. Back in the 1980s I did see something called a Mars bar on sale in the USA. I think it was like a Mars Bar/Milky Way with nuts in it. However, I never saw one again all through the time I lived in the US through the '90s and '00s. Presumably it was discontinued. (I am not sure how it differed from a Snickers, except that it was a lager bar I think.) The US version of the Mars Bar was discontinued in 2002, but it was reintroduced in 2010. ---
**Author:** ![amanda138a](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@amanda138a](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanda138a)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-companies-give-products-different-names-in-different-countries-then-change-the-name-to-match/662310/6 "2013-07-01T05:43:54Z")
Thank you all for the information, ---
**Author:** ![bink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/439d5e/32.png) [@bink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bink)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-companies-give-products-different-names-in-different-countries-then-change-the-name-to-match/662310/7 "2013-07-01T06:42:16Z")
It’s been a while, but I think Mars bars had almonds in them, not peanuts like Snickers. There was a candy bar called Marathon in the US many years ago; maybe that explains why they don’t use the name now. It was a long braid of caramel covered in chocolate. The package had a ruler on it. [![](http://www.collectingcandy.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/My-Collectors-Lament-Part-One-The-Missing-Marathon-Bar.jpg) ](http://www.collectingcandy.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/My-Collectors-Lament-Part-One-The-Missing-Marathon-Bar.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-companies-give-products-different-names-in-different-countries-then-change-the-name-to-match/662310/8 "2013-07-01T07:19:51Z")
> [@sco3tt](#): > > [Jif](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cif) (the cleaning product) shares its name with a popular U.S.-made [peanut butter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jif_(peanut_butter)) (which predated the cleaning product by a decade, per wiki), so I would guess that has something to do with the name change to Cif. A chemical company I worked for had a similar problem: some of their product lines had different names in certain countries because, in those countries, there had already been something else by that name. Even if the two products were different enough to not cause trademark-infringement issues, it still could have led to confussion. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-companies-give-products-different-names-in-different-countries-then-change-the-name-to-match/662310/9 "2013-07-01T07:51:44Z")
In some cases, it enables the manufacturers to centralise and simplify production - so maybe they can have a single production line churning out products that can be exported and sold into any market. Even if there’s a higher shipping element of the cost this way, it could still be beneficial if holding a single large stock enables them to smooth out dips and bumps in demand from here to there. Even if different variations of the packaging (maybe country-specific promotional flashes) are necessary, there can still be a cost advantage to maintaining a single brand identity (for example, you only pay design consultants once for a logo revamp) ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-companies-give-products-different-names-in-different-countries-then-change-the-name-to-match/662310/10 "2013-07-01T08:57:30Z")
The cheap clothing store chain TJ Maxx is TK Maxx in the UK and Ireland. Your guess is as good as mine. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-companies-give-products-different-names-in-different-countries-then-change-the-name-to-match/662310/11 "2013-07-01T09:43:52Z")
Sometimes product names can have bad associations in other countries. There was a Ford auto model whose name translated to “no go” in Spanish. Didn’t sell well in Mexico. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-companies-give-products-different-names-in-different-countries-then-change-the-name-to-match/662310/12 "2013-07-01T10:03:11Z")
Had nothing to do with the name, or the Pajero (masturbator) wouldn’t sell worth shite - and it does. Nova translates to “a dying star” in any language, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-companies-give-products-different-names-in-different-countries-then-change-the-name-to-match/662310/13 "2013-07-01T10:16:49Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Sometimes product names can have bad associations in other countries. > > There was a Ford auto model whose name translated to “no go” in Spanish. Didn’t sell well in Mexico. It wasn’t a Ford, it was the **Chevy Nova**. And it’s also not true, [it’s a very famous urban legend.](http://www.snopes.com/business/misxlate/nova.asp) There’s a brand of gasoline in Mexico called “Nova”, and if it meant that gas would be an even worse use of it! ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-companies-give-products-different-names-in-different-countries-then-change-the-name-to-match/662310/14 "2013-07-01T10:33:48Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > In some cases, it enables the manufacturers to centralise and simplify production - so maybe they can have a single production line churning out products that can be exported and sold into any market. > > Even if there’s a higher shipping element of the cost this way, it could still be beneficial if holding a single large stock enables them to smooth out dips and bumps in demand from here to there. > > Even if different variations of the packaging (maybe country-specific promotional flashes) are necessary, there can still be a cost advantage to maintaining a single brand identity (for example, you only pay design consultants once for a logo revamp) Sure, but why is the Mars company doing this with _some_ of its products, but not others (see my earlier post)? Anyway, I doubt very much that they are shipping chocolate bars like Snickers all the way from the USA to Britain. I am pretty sure they have local manufacturing. I remember, also, they ran a TV ad campaign to tell us Brits that Marathon would henceforth be Snickers. That must have cost them something. > [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Sometimes product names can have bad associations in other countries. Yes, but the word “Snickers” has bad associations in both Britain and the UK, yet they changed the original UK name, “Marathon” (good associations, I’d say), **to** “Snickers” (derisive laughing). ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-companies-give-products-different-names-in-different-countries-then-change-the-name-to-match/662310/15 "2013-07-01T10:52:03Z")
> [@Neidhart](#): > > The cheap clothing store chain TJ Maxx is TK Maxx in the UK and Ireland. Your guess is as good as mine. There was already a retail chain in the UK called [TJ Hughes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TJ_Hughes) and it was thought the name was too similar. Re chocolate bars, I remember Twix used to be called “Raider” in France. One of the first things I noticed on my first school trip to France - who says we never picked up any foreign culture? But unlike most other name changes, in which we Brits were forced to use the international version, I notice that the French now call it Twix too, just as God intended. ---
**Author:** ![duncs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@duncs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duncs)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-companies-give-products-different-names-in-different-countries-then-change-the-name-to-match/662310/16 "2013-07-01T12:16:28Z")
> [@bink](#): > > It’s been a while, but I think Mars bars had almonds in them, not peanuts like Snickers. > > There was a candy bar called Marathon in the US many years ago; maybe that explains why they don’t use the name now. It was a long braid of caramel covered in chocolate. The package had a ruler on it. > > [http://www.collectingcandy.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/My-Collectors-Lament-Part-One-The-Missing-Marathon-Bar.jpg](http://www.collectingcandy.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/My-Collectors-Lament-Part-One-The-Missing-Marathon-Bar.jpg) That is still on sale in the UK under the name [Curly Wurly](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curly_Wurly) ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-companies-give-products-different-names-in-different-countries-then-change-the-name-to-match/662310/17 "2013-07-01T15:18:03Z")
If you have to name a brand, and want it to be international, you will not have an easy time. Many words are already in use in different countries and many wordt, quite sensible in their own country, are rude in other languages. I well known German fizzy drink called ‘Pschitt’ comes to mind. An early global brand was ‘Kodak’ and I believe that it was an invented word that was; a, pronounceable pretty much anywhere; b, not rude anywhere; and c, not already in use by anyone. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-companies-give-products-different-names-in-different-countries-then-change-the-name-to-match/662310/18 "2013-07-01T21:50:56Z")
There is an interesting issue with [Best Foods vs Hellman’s](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellmann%27s_and_Best_Foods) mayonnaise. They’re both the same product, just that Best Foods is sold on the West Coast and Hellman’s on the East Coast. The reason for this is an acquisition of one brand by the parent company, but they kept the old name because of brand recognition. But then all the famous chefs (for example, Martha Stewart) started telling viewers that Hellman’s was the best mayo around. People on the West Coast couldn’t find it and didn’t realize that we’d been buying the equivalent all along… now, those of us on the West Coast will frequently find jars of mayo that have both the Hellmann’s and Best Foods names on them. This is probably similar to the issue the OP mentions. As communication becomes more globalized - all the way from Hollywood movies to YouTube viral videos - it can be a disadvantage if you have too many regionalized names. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-companies-give-products-different-names-in-different-countries-then-change-the-name-to-match/662310/19 "2013-07-01T23:57:01Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > If you have to name a brand, and want it to be international, you will not have an easy time. Many words are already in use in different countries and many wordt, quite sensible in their own country, are rude in other languages. I well known German fizzy drink called ‘Pschitt’ comes to mind. It goes the other way, too. **Mist** means “manure” in German. There’s a brand of liquor called Irish Mist that had to use a different name in German speaking countries. > [@](#): > > An early global brand was ‘Kodak’ and I believe that it was an invented word that was; a, pronounceable pretty much anywhere; b, not rude anywhere; and c, not already in use by anyone. Those are advantages to using a totally made up name. The disadvantage is that it takes more advertising to get everyone familiar with the name. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-companies-give-products-different-names-in-different-countries-then-change-the-name-to-match/662310/20 "2013-07-02T00:09:15Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Sure, but why is the Mars company doing this with _some_ of its products, but not others (see my earlier post)? Anyway, I doubt very much that they are shipping chocolate bars like Snickers all the way from the USA to Britain. I am pretty sure they have local manufacturing. There are probably plenty of other reasons - single brand identity in a world where people travel more, the ability to use the same advertising footage more widely, or maybe if they’re not shipping the product, they may be centrally producing the packaging (which is easier and cheaper to ship). Or it might just have been the whim of some Exec, board, consultant, etc. > [@](#): > > I remember, also, they ran a TV ad campaign to tell us Brits that Marathon would henceforth be Snickers. That must have cost them something. That’s a one-shot cost. Businesses often accept finite upfront costs if savings or greater profits are projected in the longer run. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-companies-give-products-different-names-in-different-countries-then-change-the-name-to-match/662310.md?page=2)