26 August 2014

That’s Not My Name - @StarbucksUK @CocaCola_GB [By @Cinabar]


I was wandering about the shops on bank holiday monday and thought it would be nice to pick up a bottle of drink, as I was getting thirsty. I stopped, looked at the bottles of cola and immediately frowned. Coca Cola is running it’s named bottles campaign. The bottles all have names written on them, and people madly search through the selection looking for their name. It isn't just here that is doing it, it is across the globe. NLi10 found a set of this new phenomena of name bottles on a recent holiday to Norway. There is no avoiding it.


If you have a reasonably common name the chances are you still won’t find it, just because shops are fairly limited on the stocks they get in, so even common names are hard to locate. I think the name thing is destined to end in disappointment, people searching hopefully for their name and giving up and picking up a random one. I don’t want to drink from a bottle of cola that says “Brian” on the side, that’s not my name.
I have a rare first name, “Lis”. Yes it ends in an ’s’ not a ‘z’, and this means that as a child I never had any personalised stationery/mugs etc. As an adult it means I don’t have the slightest chance of finding a bottle of Cola with my name on it either. For some reason having the wrong name on things bothers me more than not having a name on it at all. As I’ve got older I’ve become more sensitive to the incorrect spelling of my name, it is only three letters L-I-S there shouldn’t be much room for it to go wrong, but it does and it does make me grumpy. Emails tend to come addressed to either “Liz” or, and I think this is auto spelling correction, “Lies” which just isn’t friendly is it? Occasionally people guess “Lisa” too… I assume they think I accidentally mis-spelt my own name and politely corrected it for me? Really?
Annoyed by the Cola bottles, and bugged by the idea of drinking from a bottle marked “Declan” I decided to grab a drink in Starbucks instead. I queued and then ordered myself a Hazelnut Macchiato. The server did ask my name, and finally thrust a fancy looking drink in my hand with “Liz” written in black pen on the side of the cup. Oh for goodness sake - that’s not my name!
By Cinabar

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