Interesting names for convenience foods

Today’s post is a guest post from a friend and former blogger in Switzerland. Enjoy.

I was browsing in the local Coop and came across something which made me do a double take, a drink with the logo “plan b” in large letters on the label. I can see how the name came about, the new line for Coop is packaged foods, the idea being you don’t have time to cook so the backup plan is to grab something that’s pre-made and ready to go.

For those who don’t know, which seems to include the Coop marketing department, “plan b” is also the very-well-known name for emergency contraceptive pills in the US, presumably named with a similar train of thought (as in, the first plan went wrong so now you need another one…) So as far as I, any Americans, and anyone familiar with the abortion debate in the US is concerned, Coop is now selling an emergency contraceptive that comes in the form of milkshakes, juices, or for those who need a few more calories with their birth control, mac and cheese.

A note to marketing departments around the world:
Google is your friend.
Love,
Your Swiss correspondent.

8 thoughts on “Interesting names for convenience foods”

  1. If “plan b” is slang for a lazy-girl-contraceptive, it is just slang. Who cares… Swiss Miss has also never seen Switzerland 😉

  2. I’m an unborn who has been killed lately by your idea of plan b by coop and therefore had to die without a name, therefore the “Anonymus”.

    My favourite names would have been Swiss Miss or Swiss Roll, Swiss in the name but nothing Swiss in it. It’s too late now, plan b worked.

    Write on, get better – maybe on my unmarked grave?
    .

  3. I hadn't thought of that, it's really funny. But "plan b" is also a very common French expression relating to anything – including the morning after pill – but as those products are not meant to be sold anywhere else, it's not a big deal, is it?

    What actually bothers me more is not the "plan b" name – it sounds French when I read it anyways – it's more the "f(l)avor" wordplays and such. There was a time not so long ago when shops bothered making the "sale" signs in the three national languages…

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