Branded Tsunami: A Disaster Waiting To Happen

As the death toll from the Pacific tsunami climbs across the 10,000 mark in Japan, news organizations are going after any angle that has to do with rising water.

There is the obvious, "make it local" coverage: "Dubuquers flee tsunami in Hawaii." The Chicken Little angle: "Experts: Mega-quake, tsunami could happen here." The "really stretching to make it local" angle: "Japan earthquake will have no impact on Ohio." And, finally, the X-Files angle: "Lost city of Atlantis, swamped by tsunami, may be found."

Naturally, there's a branding angle.

In 2004 when the massive tsunami killed thousands in South Asia, we wondered, to ourselves, about why any company would use the term "tsunami" in its branding. Unless one actually sells products somehow associated with deadly tidal waves, the gain from "tsunami" branding cannot be greater than the potential negative association when a tsunami actually strikes, can it?

We found
Tsunami Pools and Tsunami Seal Garage Door Seal. A few other brands that have chosen to associate themselves with tsunamis:

Tsunami Hot Cellulite Cream by Natural Enzymes Skin Care:

Tsunami Car Audio systems:

Tsunami Glassworks:

Tsunami Crop Care:

Quiksilver Tsunami surf shorts:

Tsunami software:

Axe Tsunami body spray:

The Axe body spray is easily the most prominent tsunami-branded product in the marketplace. While Axe Tsunami is still widely available on Amazon and other online retailers, Axe's own website doesn't feature it. Oddly, despite its widespread availability, there is a (sparsely populated) "Bring Back Axe Tsunami Now!" Facebook group.

This isn't a call for tsunami brands to rename. It's just a question. Certainly, there are prior examples.

But then, famous New Orleans bar Pat O'Briens still serves its signature drink, The Hurricane long after a hurricane killed many and turned the city into one of America's greatest municipal disasters of a century. The bar has even licensed its brand for a take-home line of "Pat O'Brien's World Famous Hurricane Mix."