What's In A Name?

Near the end of the summer 4 years ago, nearly everyone in the southeast was routing for the Braves as they played in the world series. Everyone except the fans of the team they were playing against and also a group of protesters located outside Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta, GA. Do you remember who the group was and why they were protesting? It was a group of Native Americans who were protesting the use of the name “Braves” by the Atlanta Baseball team and the tomahawk chop action that the fans used. Did they have a legitimate complaint? Yes and no. It is kind of degrading to see what you consider sacred used as entertainment. But on the other hand, the Braves were the best team in the world. I wouldn’t mind being identified with them. Nonetheless, these Native Americans were upset because from their perspective, their name was being used in an improper way.

Now, I’m going to do something very cruel this morning. I’m getting kind of thirsty up here with all this talking that I’m doing, so I snuck me a little drink underneath here before I started this morning, and I’m going to pull it out and drink it in front of you. (Don’t you just hate that when preachers do that!) It’s not water either. I have me a cold Dr. Pepper. [take a drink] As I look at this can and the name that is on it, there‘s something interesting about it. There’s a little TM after that name. Do you know what that stands for? It means “Trademark”. That means that the name of this soft drink is the sole property of the company. They own the name and all rights to its use. What would happen if I took a cup of water, added some caramel coloring to it and some sugar and then slapped a Dr. Pepper label on it and tried to sell it to the public? I would probably get sued. The reason that I would get sued is because I had put the same name on my product that was on their product. Well, what’s the problem with that? What’s so important about a name? The name stands for who you are as a company. Everything that you are as a company – your entire reputation – is wrapped up in that name. Therefore, you get very agitated when someone uses that name in an inappropriate way.

I have a friend who is the quality control manager for a company that lays blacktop. He’s the guy that makes sure that the product that the company is putting out always lives up to the standards that they have set for their work. Why do companies have quality control managers? They want to do everything that they can to maintain a quality product with every customer that they deal with so that they can keep a good name – a good reputation. I learned while I was working at a fast-food restaurant that a customer who is satisfied with their meal will probably recommend that restaurant to one other person. But a customer who is NOT satisfied with their meal will warn SEVEN other people to stay away from the restaurant. A good reputation – a good name – is vital to the growth of a business. Companies are very jealous of their reputations. By that, I mean that they work hard to keep their reputation strong. If their reputation goes down, so does their business. For that reason, they get very upset when people use their name without their consent or on an inferior product like my version of Dr. Pepper.