South African Revenue ServiceAt the end of my last post, regarding Maximus Herbal Blend, I made the comment that ‘I’m just glad that I don’t run a company like Maximus Management Services.’ To me, it would be a bit of a marketing nightmare to have your company name used for a male libido supplement. Can’t you see walking into a potential customer’s office and when you go to introduce yourself, you have to explain that your company isn’t the same company as the one that gives you, “improved stamina.” 😀

Well, that got me to thinking about some other marketing nightmares. One of my early jobs was as a clerk for Eckerd Drugs. I worked in the pharmacy department, and I remember a diet suppressant that was designed to be a small chocolate like candy. The concept I guess was for you to eat a little piece of candy that no only gave you a candy fix, but suppressed your desire to eat as well. The name of this little wonder? AYDS.

Back in the early 80’s, before AIDS was even identified, AYDS didn’t seem like a bad name for a product. Then lo and behold, a very serious and deadly disease pops up and the medical community names it to something similar to your diet suppressant. Can you imagine working in the marketing department for this company and reading the paper that morning? Talk about your marketing nightmare. :O

That got me to thinking about the most recent catastrophic disease – SARS. There has to be a company with SARS as their acronym. Could there be another marketing nightmare in the works in today’s day and age? You betcha! It seems that the South African Revenue Service is otherwise known as SARS. Not only that, but their slogan is “SARS …is going places.” I kid you not. You can’t make stuff up this good. Not only can SARS kill you, this one can audit you too! Two things you can’t escape, death and taxes, all rolled into one. Ok, I’ll stop. 🙂

Do I think AIDS and SARS are funny? Of course not. These are serious diseases that we desperately need a cure for. Do I think having to overcome the marketing nightmare of having a disease named after your product/company is funny? You bet I do! If you do too, I found a couple of other goodies at this link.

Update: Thanks to Mika for sending me the following link about SARS Soft Drink [link].