When science fiction writers -or any kind of writers, for that matter- have an unfamiliar product that flourishes in a bleak, dysfunctional, hopeless society, they go way out of their way to make sure it doesn’t have the same name as an existing product. That’s for good reason. No company wants their brand associated with bad times. But after the work of fiction becomes famous? Surprisingly, name recognition often trumps evil connotation. There have been quite a few new products that adopted a brand name from dystopian fiction. The most famous example is
Soylent
The 1973 dystopian movie Soylent Green follows a detective of the future who stumbles upon the secret to how the government is solving the world’s food crisis. Oddly enough, there’s now a food substitute product named Soylent that’s become a cult hit in the brogrammer crowd. If I need to tell you what Soylent Green is made of in the film (and why it’s so odd to name a food product after it), maybe consider renting the movie tonight. I wouldn’t want to spoil a 40-year old movie for you.
Think about what products might be there before you read the list at PaleoFuture. I was hoping to see Ice-nine. Although it couldn’t be the exact same thing as in Cat’s Cradle, it would be a cool name for a soft drink. -via the Presurfer
(Image credit: Matt Novak)