Pass the Tabasco
A Style Primer on Brand Names and Trademarks—and Some History about the Famous Hot Sauce
Happy January, and cheers to another year of Strike-Through! I’m delighted to start off the new year with a piece coauthored with my sister, Rachel Lane, author of Missing Pieces, a history newsletter focused on the Gilded Age and Progressive Era (GAPE).
In honor of National Hot Sauce Day celebrated every year on January 22, we’re looking at the hot sauce brand that inspired this holiday—Tabasco sauce—which was first bottled 156 years ago on January 22, 1868.
Source: Wikimedia Commons. Advertisement in September 1900 Proceedings magazine.
Rachel will start with some historical background on brand names in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era (GAPE) with a particular focus on Tabasco sauce before turning it over to Rebekah, who will discuss style guide rules about trademarks.
Then—depending on which newsletter to which you subscribe—you’ll get a special section about either Theodore Roosevelt’s connection to the family behind Tabasco sauce for Missing Pieces or a discussion of the rules surrounding brand names for Strike-Through.
If you don’t already subscribe to both of our newsletters but would like to, check out Missing Pieces (written by Rachel Lane) here and Strike-Through (written by Rebekah Slonim) here.
Not Just for Cattle
Brand names are a relatively new phenomenon. Prior to the American Civil War, the word “brand” was originally used in the context of livestock and agriculture. It wasn’t until the late 1800s and early 1900s that the word “brand” began to be used to refer to manufacturing and commerce.
As Gustav A. Berghoff, president of Rub-No-More Co., noted at the turn of the century, commerce changed dramatically: “The method of twenty-five years ago is reversed today.” Previously a consumer just sought a particular item, and a retailer sold “from his stock on hand” without consideration of the particular manufacturer.
But by the early 1900s, a consumer desired more than a particular item; she wanted a particular brand. According to Berghoff, “At tremendous expense the manufacturer educates her to ask for Fels Naphtha, Ivory, Rub-No-More, etc., as the case may be.”
The Hot Sauce That Started It All
Of course, many brands and companies well-known in the GAPE (like Rub-No-More!) have disappeared from existence today. But some like Tabasco sauce have stood the test of time.
Although there is some dispute, the traditional story of the creation of Tabasco sauce suggests that Edmund McIlhenny saved his family from financial ruin after the American Civil War by inventing Tabasco sauce. After the war, he moved his family to Avery Island, Louisiana, where his wife’s family lived.
In the late 1860s, McIlhenny acquired tabasco pepper seeds, planted them in his garden, and then began trying to make a sauce, mixing crushed peppers with salt from the island and vinegar, which he aged for two months. McIlhenny received a patent for his creation in 1870.
It appears that John Posey, a druggist in Opelousas, Louisiana, was one of the first people to sell Tabasco sauce, according to an advertisement in an Opelousas newspaper in late 1869. That was just the beginning. The product soon gained traction and began to appear in stores across the region.
Source: St. Landry Democrat, Opelousas, Louisiana, December 25, 1869.
Soon it garnered national attention. States across the country began to advertise Tabasco sauce in their local papers. As one example, the Wilmington Journal of Wilmington, North Carolina, advertised “McIlhenny’s New Iberia Tabasco Pepper Sauce” at Charles D. Myers & Co. on North Front Street in the October 24, 1873, paper.
Source: Wilmington Journal, Wilmington, North Carolina, October 24, 1873.
McIlhenny’s success soon prompted other people to try their hand at making hot sauce using Tabasco peppers, including a former employee, B. F. Trappey, who founded B. F. Trappey and Sons in 1898 and began selling its own Tabasco sauce using seeds from Avery Island.
In 1906, McIlhenny’s company received registration for exclusive usage of the Tabasco trademark. In the ensuing years, the company fought several legal battles regarding the exclusivity of the Tabasco trademark.
On July 29, 1918, the Fifth US Circuit Court of Appeals recognized McIlhenny’s company as the only one with exclusive right to use the trademark “Tabasco.” The trademark was formally registered in the United States in 1927.
Thanks to Rachel for the historical background. For the rest of Rachel’s historical analysis, including the connection between Tabasco sauce and Theodore Roosevelt, click here.
Now I’ll jump in with some thoughts about trademarks.
Trademarks Are Everywhere
We see trademarks everywhere now. Just one example: My daughter, Rose, got Rebecca—both an engine and a tender—from Thomas and Friends Wooden Railway, made by Fisher-Price, for Christmas. Or, if I wanted to follow the guidance from Mattel, the parent toy company of Fisher-Price, I would say, “My daughter, Rose, got Rebecca™—both an engine and a tender—from Thomas and Friends™ Wooden Railway, made by Fisher-Price®, for Christmas.”
Rebecca is at the end of the lineup.
No Need for ® and ™—and Maybe Say “Tissue” Instead of “Kleenex”
Are those trademark symbols necessary? Not according to The Chicago Manual of Style: “Although the symbols ® and ™ (for registered and unregistered trademarks, respectively) often accompany trademark names on product packaging and in promotional material, there is no legal requirement to use these symbols, and they should be omitted wherever possible” (CMOS 8.153).
The symbols are distracting and unnecessary, and no one is going to sue you if you don’t use them.
CMOS also encourages using generic terms rather than brand names, when applicable. Say “tissues” instead of “Kleenex” unless you’re making a Kleenex-specific reference: “She prefers Kleenex to Puffs.”
Say “Pass the hot sauce” instead “Pass the Tabasco sauce”—unless both Tabasco sauce and Frank’s RedHot sauce are on the table.
Yes, It’s “RedHot” Sauce
Notice that I wrote “RedHot.” That’s how the company capitalizes, spells, and formats the name of their hot sauce. While, according to CMOS, we don’t need to litter our references to brand names with trademark symbols, we do follow the spelling and punctuation that the company prefers—within reason.
The Tabasco website styles the name of the “hot sauce that started it all” as “TABASCO® Original Red Pepper Sauce.” According to The AP Stylebook, “Do not use all-capital-letter names unless the letters are individually pronounced: BMW. Others should be uppercase and lowercase. Ikea, not IKEA.” Using all caps is the equivalent of shouting in print—it shouldn’t be done unless it’s necessary. And I don’t think the capitals are really necessary for “Original Red Pepper Sauce.” I would call it “Tabasco original red pepper sauce,” and I would only say if that I were distinguishing between different types of Tabasco sauce, such as “My favorite types of Tabasco sauce are Tabasco original red pepper sauce, Tabasco habanero pepper sauce, and Tabasco chipotle pepper sauce.” Otherwise, I think the more generic “Tabasco sauce” is a clear enough reference to the original red pepper sauce, because that’s what most people are referring to when they say “Tabasco sauce.”
Correctness and consistency are two of the highest values of copyediting. It might seem tedious to Google (more on that verb in a moment) the name of a brand to make sure it has (or doesn’t have) an apostrophe or an idiosyncratic spelling, or to evaluate if you don’t need to use all caps even if the company does, but accuracy, clarity, and readability are important. I would argue that it’s useful to present the brand names accurately even in, say, a text to a friend, if you have the opportunity to make a quick internet search. Details are meaningful.
It’s OK to Google It
Companies often “discourage turning product names into verbs,” but again, no one will sue you if you don’t. And while I tend to be wordy in my writing, even I can see the value of being able to say “Google something” instead of “conduct an internet search.” (The use of “Google” as a verb has become so widespread that Merriam-Webster even says it’s OK to lowercase it—but since the lowercase version is the second, and therefore less-common, iteration, I have capitalized “Google” here.)
A Style Primer for Brand Names and Trademarks
To summarize,
DON’T use trademark symbols for brand names, unless you’re creating product packaging
DO use generic terms rather than brand names, unless you are making a brand-specific reference
DO follow the capitalization, formatting, and spelling provided by the company for the brand name—with some exceptions
Go to the company’s website—or a style manual, although a style manual will probably only have a few examples—if you’re not sure how to spell, capitalize, etc. the brand name
Only deviate from the company’s guidance if (1) the style manual tells you otherwise or (2) the name is in all caps or is otherwise distracting or hard to replicate in normal text
Example: Toys R Us famously has a backward R; even their own website recommends styling the name as “Toys‘R’Us®.” AP recommends a simpler version, “Toys R Us”
DO use the product name as a verb if it makes sense to do so.
Now go enjoy some Tabasco sauce! As a high schooler, I frequently had couscous with butter, salt, and Tabasco sauce for breakfast—I recommend trying the combination if you haven’t already.
Beating through the thicket of English, with Puffs (not Kleenex) due to a cold,
Rebekah Slonim (and Rachel Lane)