Wang Cares! Can you beat that?
Don Freeman
(9/7/06) copy of SystemI Network's NEWS Wire Daily (an emailed newsletter
for IBM midrange users):
"I wholeheartedly agree with {name removed -DF} comments regarding IBM's
constant renaming of the AS/400 [NEWS Wire Daily, June 29]. I just hope that
these mistakes, as I see them, aren't as bad as the one Wang made back in
the '80s with their marketing slogan "Wang Cares," the sound of which has a
particular [uncomplimentary] meaning in the UK. We all know what happened to
Wang!"
http://www.systeminetwork.com/content/f3/index.cfm?fuseaction=news.viewarticle&webID=1001&newsID=5031&issueID=5974&articleID=53172
or: http://tinyurl.com/emr3p
This set off my B.S. Meter (United Veeblefetzer) and found that it is a
fairly well circulated story. Most references insist that they (Wang)
actually used it (yes they had ACTUALLY seen the
poster/tee-shirt-probably-just-remembered-from-a-Simpsons-episode/advertisement.
But the more believable versions state that it never got used due to, after
it being brought up at a meeting, the British/Australian (pick-em) attendees
convincing the others that it might not be as effective as hoped. So far I
haven't found any rebutting of this latter event.
--
-Don
Ever had one of those days where you just felt like:
http://cosmoslair.com/BadDay.html ?
(Eating the elephant outside the box, one paradigm at a time)
Mike Williams
>
>This set off my B.S. Meter (United Veeblefetzer) and found that it is a
>fairly well circulated story. Most references insist that they (Wang)
>actually used it (yes they had ACTUALLY seen the
>poster/tee-shirt-probably-just-remembered-from-a-Simpsons-episode/advertisement.
>But the more believable versions state that it never got used due to, after
>it being brought up at a meeting, the British/Australian (pick-em) attendees
>convincing the others that it might not be as effective as hoped. So far I
>haven't found any rebutting of this latter event.
I clearly remember the Wang Customer Service Centre near where I worked
in London being rebranded as "Wang Care". All the advertising in their
shop window had "Wang Care" written at the top in white letters on a
light blue background. It only lasted a few weeks.
--
Mike Williams
Gentleman of Leisure
Louise Bremner
Similarly the NatWest's promotion of their then-new credit cards in the
early 70s:
"Takes the waiting out of wanting"
The last "t" kept getting rewritten on the posters and other promotional
material, at least in the area of Bristol I was living in at the time.
________________________________________________________________________
Louise "" Bremner (log at gol dot com)
If you want a reply by e-mail, don't write to my Yahoo address!
Don Freeman
"Mike Williams" <nos...@econym.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:VJk2dEAs...@econym.demon.co.uk...
Seems like they aren't the only one with that slogan:
http://www.vnunet.com/crn/news/2000939/channel-talk-october
"Everyone in the industry has surely heard a number of jokes that liken the
name Wang to a colloquial verb that meaning 'to masturbate'. Not the people
at ALR, it seems. The company either has a very naughty sense of humour or
it hasn't got a clue, because it has hired Wang to run its on-site
warranties in the UK as a service for its customers and has nicknamed it
Wang Care. If it is a good service, it could be called a complete Wang Care;
an absolute and total Wang Care. If it is run by imbeciles, Channel Talk
could describe it as a stupid Wang Care. The old ones are the best."
There is no explaination on the above site as to who or what ALR is and
there are so many to choose from with that acronym.
---
And even Microsoft may be heading in the same direction (with a little help
from a bad French accent):
http://www.zdnet.co.uk/print/?TYPE=story&AT=39206906-39020694t-21000007c
"Tuesday 28/7/2005
I'm not a man able to resist cheap innuendo. I'm also criminally culpable
when it comes to making crude jibes aimed at big companies who spend
billions on their image. Thus the news that Microsoft is looking for beta
testers to help polish its OneCare service is an irresistible cue to start
rolling the name around in a comedy French accent. You can hear the
telephone support lines in Montreal now: "'Ello, Ouancare! 'Ow may I 'elp
you?". A similar fate famously befell Wang Laboratories and its Wang Care
customer support programme, which was reputedly given a global launch
without any local subsidiaries being given the chance to comment on its
universal applicability. Still, if Microsoft insists, who are we to argue
the toss? I'm sure the marketing department will be able to stick up for
it."
And it looks like they went with it:
http://www.windowsonecare.com/
On a personal note: I used to work for a city that had an outdated Wang that
they used for their Word Processing system (much to the chagrin of the
IBM-centric I.T. Dept - then Data Processing -> MIS -> ?). I never heard of
the Wang Care service but Wang was also slang for penis and that in and of
itself drew quite a few smiles when brought up in conversation. "Is the
Wang up?", "We need to work on the Wang", etc etc ... People went to great
pains to be able to phrase it so that they could get away with saying
something naughty.
Lon
> Mike Williams <nos...@econym.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
>
>>Wasn't it Don Freeman who wrote:
>>
>>>This set off my B.S. Meter (United Veeblefetzer) and found that it is a
>>>fairly well circulated story. Most references insist that they (Wang)
>>>actually used it (yes they had ACTUALLY seen the poster/tee-shirt-probably-
>>>just-remembered-from-a-Simpsons-episode/advertisement. But the more
>>>believable versions state that it never got used due to, after it being
>>>brought up at a meeting, the British/Australian (pick-em) attendees
>>>convincing the others that it might not be as effective as hoped. So far
>>>I haven't found any rebutting of this latter event.
>>
>>I clearly remember the Wang Customer Service Centre near where I worked
>>in London being rebranded as "Wang Care". All the advertising in their
>>shop window had "Wang Care" written at the top in white letters on a
>>light blue background. It only lasted a few weeks.
>
>
> Similarly the NatWest's promotion of their then-new credit cards in the
> early 70s:
>
> "Takes the waiting out of wanting"
>
> The last "t" kept getting rewritten on the posters and other promotional
> material, at least in the area of Bristol I was living in at the time.
Or the old original Frontier Airlines OTC package service called
Frontier Quickie, where you could show up at the counter and ask the
young lady for a quickie...
Lon "...funny name threads R us" Stowell
Ken Ward
wrote:
>The following quote of a response to an earlier article appeared in today's
>(9/7/06) copy of SystemI Network's NEWS Wire Daily (an emailed newsletter
>for IBM midrange users):
>
>"I wholeheartedly agree with {name removed -DF} comments regarding IBM's
>constant renaming of the AS/400 [NEWS Wire Daily, June 29]. I just hope that
>these mistakes, as I see them, aren't as bad as the one Wang made back in
>the '80s with their marketing slogan "Wang Cares," the sound of which has a
>particular [uncomplimentary] meaning in the UK. We all know what happened to
>Wang!"
>http://www.systeminetwork.com/content/f3/index.cfm?fuseaction=news.viewarticle&webID=1001&newsID=5031&issueID=5974&articleID=53172
> or: http://tinyurl.com/emr3p
>
>
>This set off my B.S. Meter (United Veeblefetzer) and found that it is a
>fairly well circulated story. Most references insist that they (Wang)
>actually used it (yes they had ACTUALLY seen the
>poster/tee-shirt-probably-just-remembered-from-a-Simpsons-episode/advertisement.
>But the more believable versions state that it never got used due to, after
>it being brought up at a meeting, the British/Australian (pick-em) attendees
>convincing the others that it might not be as effective as hoped. So far I
>haven't found any rebutting of this latter event.
Article in paper: State Govt of Victoria, Australia paid $K200 to a
PR firm for a new name for the new transport ticket system. The name
they came up with was Myki - which apparently means "dung" in Old
Norse & "Smell of cowdung" in Sanskrit.
Ken
wrote:
>
>Or the old original Frontier Airlines OTC package service called
>Frontier Quickie, where you could show up at the counter and ask the
>young lady for a quickie...
>
>Lon "...funny name threads R us" Stowell
I liked the old (70s) adverts for Western Australia, 'The State of
Excitement'. I used to swell with pleasure.
Noises Off
> The following quote of a response to an earlier article appeared in today's
> (9/7/06) copy of SystemI Network's NEWS Wire Daily (an emailed newsletter
> for IBM midrange users):
>
> "I wholeheartedly agree with {name removed -DF} comments regarding IBM's
> constant renaming of the AS/400 [NEWS Wire Daily, June 29]. I just hope that
> these mistakes, as I see them, aren't as bad as the one Wang made back in
> the '80s with their marketing slogan "Wang Cares," the sound of which has a
> particular [uncomplimentary] meaning in the UK. We all know what happened to
> Wang!"
> http://www.systeminetwork.com/content/f3/index.cfm?fuseaction=news.viewarticle&webID=1001&newsID=5031&issueID=5974&articleID=53172
> or: http://tinyurl.com/emr3p
>
I remember an elaboration of this a few years ago. The story
was that Wang offices answered the phone with 'Wang New
York", "Wang London" or whatever. This caused problems for
the Cologne branch.
Noises Off
Mike Freeman
news:4504...@212.67.96.135:
> I remember an elaboration of this a few years ago. The story
> was that Wang offices answered the phone with 'Wang New
> York", "Wang London" or whatever. This caused problems for
> the Cologne branch.
I always Wang Cologne.
--
Mike Freeman
no .sig yet
Jared
>
> I remember an elaboration of this a few years ago. The story
> was that Wang offices answered the phone with 'Wang New
> York", "Wang London" or whatever. This caused problems for
> the Cologne branch.
I was told a similar story after Siemens opened an office in Staines.
Jared "Did you know there's a character in Captain Pugwash..." Head
Mike Williams
>
>I remember an elaboration of this a few years ago. The story
>was that Wang offices answered the phone with 'Wang New
>York", "Wang London" or whatever. This caused problems for
>the Cologne branch.
But wouldn't the guys at Wang Global Deutschland GmbH normally answer
the phone in German. "Wang Köln".
Lon
> Wasn't it Noises Off who wrote:
>
>>I remember an elaboration of this a few years ago. The story
>>was that Wang offices answered the phone with 'Wang New
>>York", "Wang London" or whatever. This caused problems for
>>the Cologne branch.
>
>
> But wouldn't the guys at Wang Global Deutschland GmbH normally answer
> the phone in German. "Wang Köln".
>
David Winsemius
$742e...@news.sonic.net:
> "Everyone in the industry has surely heard a number of jokes that
> liken the name Wang to a colloquial verb that meaning 'to masturbate'.
> Not the people at ALR, it seems. The company either has a very naughty
> sense of humour or it hasn't got a clue, .... <snip>
> There is no explaination on the above site as to who or what ALR is and
> there are so many to choose from with that acronym.
>
ObAncientMemory_and_WhyWasteTimeChecking: Wasn't there a 1980's firm with
that initialism that early on made VeryFast S-100 boxen and later bought
out in the 90's? Advanced Logic Research?
--
DW