General Motors is concerned about Chevrolet’s branding consistency. The company sent a memo to Chevrolet employees advising them to discontinue referring to the brand as “Chevy”, though the nickname is hardwired into the American consciousness after over several of use in popular song culture.
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Branding expert Paul Worthington said G.M.’s decision was counter-intuitive to a larger trend of casual names in corporate branding, according to The New York Times. “FedEx had replaced Federal Express, KFC had supplanted Kentucky Fried Chicken and “even RadioShack has evolved into ‘The Shack’.”
It’s not clear whether employees or consumers will effectively be able to remove “Chevy” from their lexicon, especially as the name may garner some taboo for its forbidden use. But chevrolet.com has yet to remove several references to Chevy on its page.
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