<p>If you've been following the Octomom - the young California single-mother of six who recently gave birth to octuplets - (and you know you have, even if you've kept one eye squinted shut to demonstrate your more refined interests), then you know that she has moved to trademark the word "Octomom," the better to market a line of diapers and who-knows-what-else. By doing this, she shows a remarkable grasp of capitalism and I cannot help but salute her.</p> <p>She is doing what Chain-Saw Al and others have done before her: taken a nickname bestowed on her by a horrified-but-fascinated media and run with it. When the world hands you your brand name, take it. This takes nerve and narcissism but Business 101 supports such a move. Remember the maxim: "Say anything you want about me, just spell my name right." And her name is spelled O-C-T-O-M-O-M. Soon that will come with TM after it.</p> <p>In addition, the Octomom is capitalizing (no pun intended) on another fine American marketing tradition: annoying as many people as possible in the shortest amount of time. Billy Mays, TV pitchman for Kaboom! and other "fine products," is a case in point. You may hate him, mute him, or change the channel but you know his name, you know his face, and you know what he's selling. And when you see him switch from hawking cleaners to hawking storage bags, you know he's really selling himself.&nbsp; So is the Octomom.</p> <p>Now, I know what you're thinking. It's ok to cross ethical and social boundaries to sell soap or run big companies (is it?) but we're talking little kids here. Surely there is no room for trying to&nbsp; trademark the name "Octomom" when there are innocent children involved. To that I say, "author A. A. Milne." Alan Alexander Milne commoditized his preschool son, Christopher Robin, to write the Winnie-the-Pooh stories. The fact that Pooh and Tigger and Piglet and the rest have been beloved by millions of children and further exploited by Disney Corporation does not erase the fact that a real child became a product. Christopher Robin Milne later said, "It seemed to me almost that my father had got where he was by climbing on my infant shoulders, that he had filched from me my good name and left me nothing but empty fame." Filching somebody's childhood is not nice but obviously it's been done before, to great financial return.</p> <p>And that's what the Octomom is looking for, isn't it: great financial return. Aren't we all? We can decry the damage that has been done and will be done to fourteen innocent human beings. As an expert in child development, I see dark days ahead for these kids. We can peek between our fingers when we see her on TV and pretend that we're above such vulgar goings-on. I do that myself. But the Octomom is just like the rest of us: taking what life hands her and trying to make it pay off. For that, she gets my grudging admiration. For that, I wish her well.</p> 2009-04-16T15:20:00Z 2009-04-17T07:29:45Z -9.10039 291 4201 true 18 6597 branding-and-the-octomom 7 2009-04-17T07:28:49Z 2009-04-17T07:29:45Z

What does the effort of a young California mother of 14 to trademark her nickname say about American entrepreneurship? Can it be that she and we are really on the same page?

1 2009-04-17T07:29:45Z