Elon Musk finally achieving his adorable decades-long wish to own a company called X is the latest high-profile corporate rebranding effort, and like all corporate rebrands, Twitter’s renaming has inspired debate. The Onion looks back at the most famous corporate rebranding efforts in history.
Nike
The shoe company changed its name from Blue Ribbon Sports in the hope that its child laborers could stitch faster with a shorter brand name.
Los Angeles Rams
The NFL team hurriedly updated its name after realizing it was no longer located in St. Louis.
Burlington
The marketing department thought it best to drop “Coat Factory” before global warming really takes off.
Pepsi
Expectations of a Central Powers victory in World War I led the soft-drink brand to briefly change its name to Kaiser Pop in 1917 before changing it back the following year.
Ku Klux Klan
Changed its name from “New York City Police Department” to rid itself of negative associations.
Meta
Facebook execs saw the name change as the perfect way to symbolize the company’s transition from focusing on a product people hate to focusing on one they’ll ignore.
Academi
The defense contractor responsible for the 2007 Nisour Square massacre changed its name over concerns that Blackwater sounded too Jewish.
Altria
The cigarette manufacturer changed its name after realizing “Philip Morris” really, really sounds like a guy with stage IV lung cancer.
Minaria
This is what Exxon-Mobil will rename itself in 10 years when it pivots to solar panels and none of its executives go to prison.
