Ever notice how many mom-and-pop stores have signs out front bearing the logo of a brand of soda pop?
Usually, the sign is a backlit, plexiglass logo of a well-known brand of soda, while underneath, in smaller black-and-white lettering, is the actual name of the store. Most signs seem to be for Coke or Pepsi, with the second most common being 7up or RC. Once in a while you might find an obscure or discontinued brand, like Teem (a former lemon-lime product made by Pepsi -- an ancestor of Sierra Mist you might say). Stores with these signs tend to be found the most in either smaller towns, or older parts of cities.
I used to wonder what significance a brand of soda had with many of these stores. If the business was, say, a pizza place -- sure, I understand, the sign was reminding you to order a Coke with the pie. But what it was a clothing store? I understand now that the whole thing was a deal where business people got a free or reduced-cost sign in exchange for the advertising. Not sure if they still do this, though I've seen some relatively recent Pepsi signs displayed in this manner.
Also, it's not just soft-drink logos that do this. Some bars have a sign with a beer logo built in; Pabst Blue Ribbon and Old Milwaukee seem to be the most common. And in areas within a certain radius of Harrisburg, you have signs reading Hershey's Ice Cream on all manner of stores (some of these are in the form of a placard inside the store window, though). Finally, some repair shops have a sign with a brand of the appliance they specialize in, like Zenith if their specialty is TVs.
There used to be a Dr. Pepper hanging exterior sign for a small food store around the corner from my house in my hometown in the late 70s/maybe early 80s. I would love to have that sign today. Some other local brand signs in the area: "Richman's" ice cream signs for stores around South Jersey; "A-Treat" soda company signs in the Allentown, PA area.
What's more odd to me is a Coke/Pepsi logo for something that doesn't even specialize in foodstuffs, such as a laundromat or an auto parts store. I guess you borrow their advertising branding and expected goodwill of the name to hawk your wares. Always seemed a little duplicitous to me, but that's advertising for you.
Quote from: formulanone on August 04, 2014, 03:21:55 PM
What's more odd to me is a Coke/Pepsi logo for something that doesn't even specialize in foodstuffs, such as a laundromat or an auto parts store. I guess you borrow their advertising branding and expected goodwill of the name to hawk your wares. Always seemed a little duplicitous to me, but that's advertising for you.
What I find oddest is if a place has one logo but then sells only the other. When I was in college, the scoreboard in Scott Stadium had a Pepsi logo but the concession stands only sold Coke products.
Quote from: 1995hoo on August 04, 2014, 03:25:43 PM
What I find oddest is if a place has one logo but then sells only the other. When I was in college, the scoreboard in Scott Stadium had a Pepsi logo but the concession stands only sold Coke products.
Doc's All-American in Delray Beach is like that; they had a neon Pepsi sign at the same location for over fifty years, but had been serving Coke for about half that time.
I did a small Renaissance Festival a few years ago that was "co-sponsored" by Coke. There were all sorts of advertising banners with the Coke logo, and Coke was the primary soft drink served.
Quote from: formulanone on August 04, 2014, 03:21:55 PM
What's more odd to me is a Coke/Pepsi logo for something that doesn't even specialize in foodstuffs, such as a laundromat or an auto parts store. I guess you borrow their advertising branding and expected goodwill of the name to hawk your wares. Always seemed a little duplicitous to me, but that's advertising for you.
Usually in places like that there are (or were) a soda vending machine tucked away somewhere that is owned and operated by that particular soda company. In my side of the vending business we usually pay a commission on sales as a sort of rent for that space. The advertising will usually be on a clock or menu board or the like provided to the store in lieu of an actual commission. We do the same thing with some customers, instead providing free caterings or a Christmas party, etc.
My grandparents were owners of a "mom and pop" store. The deliverymen for the various brands worked on commission back then, and freebie signs were a part of that.
IIRC, about the mid-70s the companies all got together and decided to stop.
Not a store, but
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FGcXMIfq.png&hash=a429cf18cb08bdfeaa1be1834038b67a143eaa0e)
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FL0xGCBf.png&hash=0e1c6bfa5a073174c367d52090dc4b689738bd1a)
Good luck finding Coke anywhere on campus.
Quote from: doorknob60 on August 05, 2014, 07:06:42 PM
Not a store, but
Good luck finding Coke anywhere on campus.
Rutgers did that when I was there. Only Coke products on campus once they signed the deal. A lot of people were upset.
As for the store signs, I have two pretty cool fluorescent lit clock signs that you would typically see above a deli counter - one Dr. Pepper and one Coke.
Quote from: doorknob60 on August 05, 2014, 07:06:42 PM
Good luck finding Coke anywhere on campus.
We handle the vending inside Wendy's corporate HQ, they're a Coke company. Problem is, they have free fountains inside for the employees. We have machines to keep full that 1. Must be Coke products, and 2. Isn't something being given away 50 feet across the room. Good times...
Quote from: 6a on August 05, 2014, 08:53:21 PM
Quote from: doorknob60 on August 05, 2014, 07:06:42 PM
Good luck finding Coke anywhere on campus.
We handle the vending inside Wendy's corporate HQ, they're a Coke company. Problem is, they have free fountains inside for the employees. We have machines to keep full that 1. Must be Coke products, and 2. Isn't something being given away 50 feet across the room. Good times...
Nice. How do I convince my company to set up a Dr. Pepper fountain in my office?
Quote from: Roadrunner75 on August 04, 2014, 03:20:26 PM
There used to be a Dr. Pepper hanging exterior sign for a small food store around the corner from my house in my hometown in the late 70s/maybe early 80s. I would love to have that sign today. Some other local brand signs in the area: "Richman's" ice cream signs for stores around South Jersey; "A-Treat" soda company signs in the Allentown, PA area.
And you would see those signs on shops that were just plopped on some land along a main road, not really near anything. Today, zoning and communities would be upset at the locations of some of those businesses.
At work, we had a Pepsi machine that was stocked with Pepsi products, except regular Pepsi. Instead, it sold regular Coke. We think, but couldn't prove, a certain new hire that must've known someone with PepsiCo must've said something, because suddenly they switched out the Coke for Pepsi.
Quote from: doorknob60 on August 05, 2014, 07:06:42 PM
Not a store, but
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FGcXMIfq.png&hash=a429cf18cb08bdfeaa1be1834038b67a143eaa0e)
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FL0xGCBf.png&hash=0e1c6bfa5a073174c367d52090dc4b689738bd1a)
Good luck finding Coke anywhere on campus.
Those signs both look to be in Idaho. The bottler in Idaho has or had a schools program charity where they give scholarships and will put up school signs free of charge, provided they have the Pepsi logo. When I was in high school in McCall, we got one in about 2005.
Quote from: 1995hoo on August 04, 2014, 03:25:43 PM
What I find oddest is if a place has one logo but then sells only the other. When I was in college, the scoreboard in Scott Stadium had a Pepsi logo but the concession stands only sold Coke products.
Several years ago I attended the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl football game at Ford Field in Detroit. The Little Caesars logo was painted on the 50-yard line, but the concession stands sold only Hungry Howie's Pizza. I was told that Little Caesars sponsored the game but Hungry Howie's had year-round concession rights.
Quote from: jeffandnicole on August 05, 2014, 10:29:27 PM
At work, we had a Pepsi machine that was stocked with Pepsi products, except regular Pepsi. Instead, it sold regular Coke. We think, but couldn't prove, a certain new hire that must've known someone with PepsiCo must've said something, because suddenly they switched out the Coke for Pepsi.
Depending on where you work, and if the machine is easily accessible to the public / visitors, Pepsi themselves might have audited it and raised a stink. We do that kind of thing all the time and every so often Coke or Pepsi will call us and raise hell. The problem in our case is those machines are loaned to us by Coke/Pepsi, so they obviously want their product in them. The fun begins when they call us about a machine we own, then we tell them to kindly self fornicate.
We have a barber shop on Shreveport Hwy (old alignment of US 71) that has a Diet Rite sign.
http://goo.gl/maps/HFQW5
There's also an older, closed down gas station that has "Take the Pepsi Challenge!" sign out front. Hard to see, but... http://goo.gl/maps/gf94x
Quote from: formulanone on August 04, 2014, 03:21:55 PM
What's more odd to me is a Coke/Pepsi logo for something that doesn't even specialize in foodstuffs, such as a laundromat or an auto parts store...
In at least a few cases, I know of businesses that just retained and converted a soft-drink sponsored sign from a previous owner or tenant. For example, this discount tobacco store (https://www.google.com/maps/@41.241137,-77.053374,3a,75y,192.91h,88.34t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sdnri2SekrLISunS3aUOMtA!2e0) used to be food-oriented convenience store, but they kept the '70s-'80s-vintage Pepsi sign and simply changed the lettering. I realize that this doesn't explain all of the odd cases, though.
But the practice of having soft-drink sponsored signs for small businesses has always struck me as odd–I can remember being four or five years old and thinking then it was strange. The soft drink logo seems to suggest an endorsement, like an authorized dealer, and certainly The Coca-Cola Company isn't doing a thorough audit of every third-rate mom and pop corner store that hangs up a Coke sign.
Looking back at old pictures, it appears that the practice evolved out of an era when companies would paint their logos on barns or the sides of buildings just to try to stay in people's minds. And so to the soft drink company, the local business name is incidental–just a reason to get the business owner to hang up the sign. The real value is getting the Coca-Cola logo in one more place.
Here's one at a laundromat in Wilmington, Ohio.
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Wilmington,+OH&hl=en&ll=39.436785,-83.828382&spn=0.002362,0.005284&sll=38.963575,-84.081074&sspn=0.004788,0.014656&oq=wilmin&t=h&hnear=Wilmington,+Clinton+County,+Ohio&z=18&layer=c&cbll=39.436965,-83.829389&panoid=UjOdgEkHC0wm_1jS3K0plg&cbp=12,114.16,,0,1.52
I recall the old Fayetteville Fire Department firehouse in Fayetteville, Ohio had a similar soft drink logo sign (I think 1970's Mountain Dew logo) on the front of the building until replaced by a new station over 10 years ago. I always thought this the most unusual, having only seen these particular signs on restaurants, and other businesses.
Sunkist, Jim's Food Mart, Houghton, MI: https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=47.119351,-88.554611&spn=0.002095,0.005284&t=h&z=18&layer=c&cbll=47.119464,-88.554598&panoid=Sb-LsrBtuy0KPlbfHH0Zyg&cbp=12,275.66,,0,-0.18
Quote from: 6a on August 05, 2014, 11:56:27 PM
Quote from: jeffandnicole on August 05, 2014, 10:29:27 PM
At work, we had a Pepsi machine that was stocked with Pepsi products, except regular Pepsi. Instead, it sold regular Coke. We think, but couldn't prove, a certain new hire that must've known someone with PepsiCo must've said something, because suddenly they switched out the Coke for Pepsi.
Depending on where you work, and if the machine is easily accessible to the public / visitors, Pepsi themselves might have audited it and raised a stink. We do that kind of thing all the time and every so often Coke or Pepsi will call us and raise hell. The problem in our case is those machines are loaned to us by Coke/Pepsi, so they obviously want their product in them. The fun begins when they call us about a machine we own, then we tell them to kindly self fornicate.
We are a private office. The only people from the outside would be clients visiting people. Could one of them have said something? Maybe...although they probably shouldn't have been in our break room in the first place! :-) The machine itself (along with the generic snack machine) is filled by a non-profit group who keeps the proceeds, I believe.
Here's an example of a Hershey's Ice Cream sign I found on Flickr:
(https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3212/2919033627_5bca031509_s.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/5rWNZZ)HERSHEY'S Ice Cream (https://flic.kr/p/5rWNZZ) by Eugene Gannon (https://www.flickr.com/people/28547269@N00/), on Flickr
Of course, Hershey's Ice Cream in itself is kind of an eighth wonder of brand names. You would think that ice cream and chocolate would go together like... chocolate ice cream, right? Yet despite being located only about a dozen miles apart, and both being around since 1894, Hershey's Ice Cream and Hershey Foods (now just The Hershey Company) are not connected! The Hershey Creamery (http://www.hersheyicecream.com/) insists that its founder is not related to Milton Snavely Hershey. Go figure!
The Roy Rogers near our house carries Hershey's Ice Cream. I believe the Creamery and the chocolate company have engaged in various litigation over the years that they ultimately resolved when the Creamery agreed to post a disclaimer saying they're not affiliated with the chocolate company. This is an example of where different people having the same last name can lead to odd results: Both companies were founded by people with the last name "Hershey."
Are there any remaining signs using the "new" Coke logo?
I've never seen one with the New Coke logo, which IIRC had a slightly thicker font and and some elements of silver (and later, blue) in addition to the usual red and white. And of course, initially there was that diagonal "New" banner.
But I think Coca-Cola ceased their sign program sometime in the '70s, and the New Coke debacle was in 1985. However, Pepsi seems to have installed new signs well into the '80s, maybe beyond. For example, the Pepsi product Slice was introduced in the '80s, and they had some signs:
(https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3457/3176067863_9f854b7679_s.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/5QEbjK)OH Continental - Franky's Restaurant (https://flic.kr/p/5QEbjK) by scottamus (https://www.flickr.com/people/10707024@N04/), on Flickr
For the record, the 7up product Like Cola was introduced in 1982. These are quite rare.
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/85/208217664_45e40433f2_s.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/jpaRJ)Like Cola? (2) (https://flic.kr/p/jpaRJ) by found_drama (https://www.flickr.com/people/28555778@N00/), on Flickr
Quote from: lepidopteran on August 07, 2014, 01:32:39 PMThe Hershey Creamery (http://www.hersheyicecream.com/) insists that its founder is not related to Milton Snavely Hershey. Go figure!
would there be any legal reason to maintain a polite fiction? I had thought one's name was allowed to be used as a trademark even if it conflicts with others, so two Hersheys would be okay. no?
Quote from: bugo on August 11, 2014, 01:01:04 PM
Are there any remaining signs using the "new" Coke logo?
Quote from: lepidopteran on August 11, 2014, 09:51:51 PM
I've never seen one with the New Coke logo, which IIRC had a slightly thicker font and and some elements of silver (and later, blue) in addition to the usual red and white.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fbriantroutman.com%2FResources%2Fcoke_1984-1985.jpg&hash=df8eafaa53349ceee60ed9f990bb76f504088f1d)
It was a fairly subtle change from the previous "Coke" can, which premiered around 1970, to 1985's new "Coke" can. I believe both of these can designs displayed both "Coke" and the long-running "Coca-Cola" script as you rotated the can around. 1985's bolder, slab-serif rendering of "Coke" wasn't really new, though–it had first appeared on Diet Coke in 1982.
Quote from: agentsteel53 on August 11, 2014, 11:02:03 PM
Quote from: lepidopteran on August 07, 2014, 01:32:39 PMThe Hershey Creamery (http://www.hersheyicecream.com/) insists that its founder is not related to Milton Snavely Hershey. Go figure!
would there be any legal reason to maintain a polite fiction? I had thought one's name was allowed to be used as a trademark even if it conflicts with others, so two Hersheys would be okay. no?
You'd be surprised. I'm not an intellectual properties attorney, but I do know that it's a complex and sometimes counterintuitive area of law. For example, even if your legal name was McDonald and you had lineage going back to Scotland, the McDonald's Corporation could probably prevent you from operating a local restaurant called "McDonald's" .
The Hershey/Hershey case likely came to a stalemate because both companies date back to 1894–long before either was famous. But in every other regard, though, I think the Hershey Company does have a legitimate grievance with the Hershey Creamery. The creamery is using a confusingly similar logotype, marketing somewhat related products (Nestlé markets both chocolate and ice cream), and capitalizing on customer confusion. The vast majority of people I've asked assume that Hershey ice cream is a product of the Hershey Company.
Quote from: agentsteel53 on August 11, 2014, 11:02:03 PM
I had thought one's name was allowed to be used as a trademark even if it conflicts with others, so two Hersheys would be okay. no?
No. The legal test is "confusion" by an average customer. Which comes down to the relative over-lap of the two products and the relative size of the two outfits. If your name is Campbell, you are certainly OK to be a CPA or own a bakery. Stew is certainly out. Some other food? That is how lawyers make their money.
We have a case locally. Lawyer is named Webb. Bought webblaw dot com or something. Got a pissy letter from some lawyer in Pittsburgh named Webb. Our Webb told him to go f*** himself and then sued when the guy wouldn't shut up. Won. Got big $$.
My favorite story does not involve last names. Delta is used by unrelated faucet company, insurance company, and airline. Delta.com? First got registered by an ISP in the Mississippi Delta. He held an auction after beating all three in court. Airline "won" and got to pay him enough to retire.
Looks like there were New Coke signs. At least two others are on Flickr, but sharing was restricted on them.
(https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5313/14395636400_460100674a_s.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/nW6paA)Vintage Coke Sign (https://flic.kr/p/nW6paA) by BellevilleBloke (https://www.flickr.com/people/53721550@N07/), on Flickr
There's one on a sign across the street from my school. It's for some kind of lodging, IIRC.
Quote from: SP Cook on August 12, 2014, 06:45:25 AM
....
My favorite story does not involve last names. Delta is used by unrelated faucet company, insurance company, and airline. Delta.com? First got registered by an ISP in the Mississippi Delta. He held an auction after beating all three in court. Airline "won" and got to pay him enough to retire.
The HVAC service company we use is called Delta Service Company. I recall the airline's website was once delta-air.com, which theoretically raises the issue of an HVAC company legitimately beating the airline to that domain name because HVAC is "air"-related.
In a more general sense, the issue you raise as to domain names is known as "cybersquatting" when it's done for malicious reasons. People buy up domain names so they can hold them hostage in the hopes of getting a big payday when the famous trademark's owner wants to use that name. It doesn't always work. There's a federal statute allowing a cause of action in federal court when it's done with bad faith intent to profit off the goodwill of someone else's trademark (of course, the bad faith is one of the issues the parties wind up litigating). The firm where I used to work did a fair amount of cybersquatting work, though I can't consider myself an expert on the topic because I only had limited involvement with that issue. It can be interesting stuff sometimes. The really "good" cybersquatters can be a massive pain in the arse for big corporations.
Then you have the people who register the ".com" version of a ".gov" or ".net" or whatever domain name. Infamously, "whitehouse.com" led to a porn site for many years because the US government hadn't thought to take the prudent step most companies now do of registering for the same name with different suffixes. There are also people who try to profit by using misspelled domain names, or names the people think will be commonly misspelled, to make money. I'm sure back in the 1970s a lot of people probably heard the name "Xerox" pronounced and, if they hadn't seen it written, proceeded to sound it out as "Zerox" or some such. If the World Wide Web had existed back then, somebody could have registered "zerox.com" to try to make money, or alternatively to try to smear Xerox. It's the negative sites that try to attack a company that sometimes cause bigger headaches than the people who simply register the domain names in an attempt to profit.
Quote from: lepidopteran on August 11, 2014, 09:51:51 PM
....
For the record, the 7up product Like Cola was introduced in 1982. These are quite rare.
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/85/208217664_45e40433f2_s.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/jpaRJ)Like Cola? (2) (https://flic.kr/p/jpaRJ) by found_drama (https://www.flickr.com/people/28555778@N00/), on Flickr
I remember that soda, though I hadn't thought of the name in years. Can't say I'd ever seen a sign like that one, though.
Quote from: briantroutman on August 12, 2014, 02:51:36 AM
You'd be surprised. I'm not an intellectual properties attorney, but I do know that it's a complex and sometimes counterintuitive area of law. For example, even if your legal name was McDonald and you had lineage going back to Scotland, the McDonald's Corporation could probably prevent you from operating a local restaurant called "McDonald's" .
The Hershey/Hershey case likely came to a stalemate because both companies date back to 1894–long before either was famous. But in every other regard, though, I think the Hershey Company does have a legitimate grievance with the Hershey Creamery. The creamery is using a confusingly similar logotype, marketing somewhat related products (Nestlé markets both chocolate and ice cream), and capitalizing on customer confusion. The vast majority of people I've asked assume that Hershey ice cream is a product of the Hershey Company.
Also in Pennsylvania: Snyder's of Hanover and Snyder's of Berlin. One of them carries a disclaimer on its products that it's not associated with the other.
Quote from: SP Cook on August 12, 2014, 06:45:25 AM
We have a case locally. Lawyer is named Webb. Bought webblaw dot com or something. Got a pissy letter from some lawyer in Pittsburgh named Webb. Our Webb told him to go f*** himself and then sued when the guy wouldn't shut up. Won. Got big $$.
Why would a lawyer in Pittsburgh be complaining about a lawyer in West Virginia? Overlapping media markets somewhere along I-79 or something?
Wasn't there a case between Burger King and a local restaurant in central IL that carried the same name?
I believe it prevented BK from opening a restaurant within 40 miles or so of that town.
Quote from: The Nature Boy on August 14, 2014, 04:52:08 PM
Wasn't there a case between Burger King and a local restaurant in central IL that carried the same name?
I believe it prevented BK from opening a restaurant within 40 miles or so of that town.
There was. There's also a pizza restaurant chain in parts Canada called "Pizza Pizza" (I don't remember whether it's punctuated) who were able to prevent Little Caesars from using their well-known "Pizza! Pizza!" slogan in the areas where the other chain does business. This sort of thing isn't as uncommon as people might think. I recall Waffle House were unable to use their name in certain areas because of another chain already established there (I think maybe Indiana, though I don't recall for sure).
Quote from: 1995hoo on August 14, 2014, 05:18:33 PM
I recall Waffle House were unable to use their name in certain areas because of another chain already established there (I think maybe Indiana, though I don't recall for sure).
That is correct - Waffle House in Indiana was called Waffle & Steak. I think that's since changed however.
How is trying to make money "malicious"? There is nothing inherently wrong with buying a domain with the intent of making profit.
The retail chain Big Lots used to be known as "Odd Lots" in some parts of Ohio. I think this was because there was another similar chain with a buyout/closeout business model called Odd Lots outside of Ohio, or vice-versa. But now they're called Big Lots throughout the chain.
Of course, businesses or with different regional names can be the subject of a whole 'nother thread. (Esso/Enco/Humble for example) Or even regional brand names (Hellman's/Best Foods mayonnaise, Hostess Ding-Dongs/King Dons/Big Wheels).
As I mentioned in another thread, a fine little local steakhouse in Montvale, NJ, called itself "McDonald's" dating to the 40s or so, irritating the powerless global megafattener since they were technically the new kid on the block. Sadly, McDonald's the small closed on 1996, and McDonald's the large rolls on.