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Don't Say Velcro

VELCRO® Brand · 1.3M views · 2017-09-25 · 2:15

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Overview

Velcro Brand's legal team makes a short, humorous ad asking people not to use "velcro" as a noun or verb and to say hook and loop instead. It is a tongue-in-cheek lesson in defending a trademark against genericization.

On Hacker News

HN cites it as the go-to example of a company defending its trademark, and many also find it funny.

Recommended by 3 HN people across 3 months · HN mentions 2019–2025

Topics

Law, policing & justiceProduct, marketing & sales
Search by tags
velcrotrademarkadvertisinghook and loophumor

What people said

compiler-guy · 2023-12 · Strong recommendation

If you've never seen the video ad that went along with this campaign, it's hilarious and worth watching, as is the follow up. I love the good humor about the whole thing. And it has made their campaign stick in ways that other similar campaigns have not. [VIDEO] [LINK]

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Stratoscope · 2022-09 · Strong recommendation

That is a very cute page. I like their attitude. And the video at the top of the page is absolutely wonderful. It's the funniest thing I've seen in a long time. Watch it with good headphones or speakers and the sound up. Direct link: [VIDEO]

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_jal · 2020-04 · Recommendation

Here is Velcro's lawyers telling you to call those other brands 'hook and loop' in a surprisingly straightforward, honest and amusing way. [VIDEO]

Read the original HN comment ↗

Sources

Video by VELCRO® Brand, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

HN summaries and labels may contain AI errors. HN dates refer to discussions, not video publication.

HN Library: HackerTube export (2026-10-31) and open-index/hacker-news. Upstream summaries and classifications may contain AI errors.

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