Brand name differences

I think over the years, various companies have been divided and sold to conglomerates. This leads to brand confusion. This happened to Crest line of products. Crest used to be exclusively proctor & gamble. Not anymore. Everything is so global now. Manufactured in one country and sold in another.

Another matter is corporate labeling. On Amazon - you will see the same item being sold by different businesses with different corporate logos on it. Yet, it’s exactly the same item.
Marketing can be a factor also.

We saw TK Maxx in Warsaw.

I was bemused after growing up in California to find that Best Foods Mayonnaise was called Hellmans Mayonnaise in NE.

However, my favorite story was moving from CA to Longview, Washington to work and discovering there weren’t Bank of America branches. “ Why do they call it Bank of America then?!?!”

The head scratcher for me is Hardee's on the east coast and Carl's on the west coast here in the US.

It’s TK Maxx (vs. TJ) that always cracks me up, I don’t really know why

General Motors = Vauxhall?

I wonder about Pepperidge Farm cookies. Somewhere--I think in a former Iron Curtain country--I saw packages of cookies with an entirely different brand name whose packaging really reminded me of Pepperidge Farm: white bag, similar layout, similar font.
The cookies were not the same, based on the pictures; I didn't buy them.

As stated in this article, Best Foods' and Hellmann's mayonnaise are the same product (and company ownership). The article also says that Best Foods' mayonnaise is available on the west coast and Hellmann's mayonnaise is available in the east, and that the only place both brands are available is in Denver (area).

I live in Lakewood, a suburb of Denver. I can't attest to the brands not both being available outside the Denver area, but I can attest to both being available in the Denver area, side-by-side on the shelf. I long ago realized that the labels on the jars were identical except for the name, when someone advised me to only buy one brand, not the other.

According to the article (I'll have to check the labels), Hellmann's has less sodium than Best Foods.

Why do they call it Bank of American then?!?!

Claudia, my mother, who had lived in LA since the 20s told me that, until WWII, it was called "Bank of Italy" (although I doubt that it had a branch in Rome, either). When WWII started, they changed the name from Bank of Italy to Bank of American to avoid anti-Italian sentiment.

Dreyer's and Edy’s® proudly market our products under Dreyer's Ice Cream west of the Rocky Mountains and in Texas. On the other side of the nation, we proudly market our products under Edy’s® Ice Cream in the East. We do this to honor both of our founders, William Dreyer and Joseph Edy as well as our past. ( a Nestle brand)

Additionally Nestle has Nestle Ice Cream, Haagen-Dazs and Movenpick , the latter I had not heard of.

Mr. Clean USA, Meister Proper, Germany
Dove candy USA, Galaxy, Germany

Corona beer (from Mexico) used to be Coronita beer here in Spain, but about 5 years ago they changed it Corona.

There is a local tomato processing plant here in La Rioja which has the Heinz license for ketchup, mustard and some other things. When my supermarket has a sale on "local products" it includes Heinz Ketchup.

I like stopping in for PFK fried chicken in Quebec.

Additionally Nestle has Nestle Ice Cream, Haagen-Dazs and Movenpick , the latter I had not heard of.

@joe32f, Movenpick is based out of Switzerland. I used to eat at Movenpick restaurants when I would travel to Toronto and loved them (sort of cafeteria Euro style). Good food and incredible coffee. I heard that Nestle had bought the Movenpick brand from them some years ago.

This is reminding me of the various ways different counties pronounce’IKEA”- “Eye-kea” in the UK, “Ick-aya” in the Netherlands and “ickier” in Sweden, I think. How does the US say it?

In France IKEA is "E K ah"

'eye-key-ah' , at least that is what is common here. (Would not be surprised if in New England area there is an 'r' at the end.)

Mardee, thank you for the info

until WWII, it was called "Bank of Italy" (although I doubt that it had a branch in Rome, either). When WWII started, they changed the name from Bank of Italy to Bank of American to avoid anti-Italian sentiment.

Getting off topic but there is interesting history here. I saw a documentary years ago, "The Italian Americans" on PBS that addressed the BofA founding. Giannini started it to serve the large Italian immigrant community.

• The bank's history dates to 1904 when Amadeo Peter Giannini opened the Bank of Italy in San Francisco. It eventually developed into the Bank of America and was for a time owned by Giannini's holding company, Transamerica Corporation.

This is getting way off topic. I originally posted this because someone said on another post they brought items from home because they liked what they were used to. I was trying to show that some of the items people think aren't available in Europe really are. No need to pack them.

Kettle brand potato chips (crisps) have the same name in the USA and in the UK, with the exact same logo on the packaging. They are not the same product, other than being potato-based. The US chips are thicker, and have a particularly harder, crunchy texture. The European version is thinner, with a much more delicate texture - very similar to that of Lay’s or any other “regular” brand.

Now inspired to research this, it turns out that Campbell’s Soup acquired Kettle in 2018, then sold off the European rights to the Valero Corp. a year later. Valero seems to have kept the name and logo (!) but changed to product.

A big part of my travel experience has been to eat things that I can’t simply or easily get at home. I generally don’t look for, expect, or get what I think of as American brands. I’d usually be disappointed to find out that something I thought was a unique, “local” specialty was just a “regular” familiar thing, masquerading with a different brand name.