When your brand name becomes the (fake) gold standard

     It is a double-edged sword, but companies live for the day when their product becomes so omnipresent that the very name comes to represent the class. Xerox is one example...people use it a verb, and as a substitute word for any copier. The double-edge part of it comes with the potential loss of copyright for the name.
     It can also work as a negative image.
     In a story in the New York Times today, about a history book that is now being questioned for its accuracy, a researcher is quoted:

“This book is a Toyota,” said Robert S. Norris, the author of “Racing for the Bomb” and an atomic historian. “The publisher should recall it, issue an apology and fix the parts that endanger the historical record.”

     Ouch! You gotta know the already besieged managers at Toyota shiver when they see their name being used as a symbol for a defective product. Like the opposite of "Cadillac" maybe?