Claim: Southern California
FALSE
Origins: In 1980, Anaheim-based
name.
Then the unexpected occurred. Sales were lower than anticipated at
What happened? Word around Los Angeles was that those Osco folks from the Midwest hadn't considered a factor of paramount importance in the heavily Hispanic southern California market: The name Osco has the same pronunciation as the Spanish word "asco"
Osco's vice-president of administration, Alan Barker, maintained otherwise:
We are changing it back because customers recognize The L.A. Times suggested there was a connection there, and it is nonsense. I don't know where people come up with that garbage.
There is no connection between that and the name change. I told that to another reporter, and it showed
up as a "no comment." I said this was a very exciting, very, very positive change for the company, and none of that showed up either.
Was the unfortunate cross-language meaning the real reason for the name change? Probably not. Most likely it was another flavor of the infamous Chevrolet Nova legend, as others pointed out:
"People who study sales and advertising might have a different view,'' Marquez said. "But from a language point of view, this sort of thing doesn't have an impact. I don't give much credibility to those stories.''
It's just an amusing story, said Hector Marquez, professor of Spanish at the University of Redlands. He compared it to stories several years ago about the Chevrolet Nova. "No va'' in Spanish can mean "it doesn't go,'' but Marquez said any Spanish-speaking person would know better.
The underlying cause for the sales slump in the California and
Another real-world example of the maxim, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
Last updated: 13 May 2011
Sources: |
Fitzsimmons, Pamela. "Osco Drugstore Officials Are Sick of Rumors." Gannett News Service. 1 March 1989. Giblen, Gary M. "Name Changes Are Risky, But Albertson's Just May Pull It Off in California." Grocery Headquarters. 1 January 2000. Groves, Martha. "Now You See Osco, Now You Don't." Los Angeles Times. 9 February 1989 (Business; p. 4). Weglarz, Nilda. "Former Sav-Ons Get Old Name Back." The Orange County Register. 10 February 1989 (p. C1).