Kim Jong Un is in the news for something slightly different today. Unilever has named their latest cosmetics line “KJU,” which just so happens to be the initials of North Korea’s leader—however, the company insists that it is, in fact, not named after Kim Jong Un.
Unilever has been aiming to grow its presence in the Asian beauty market, so they created a soap and shower gel line aimed at urban millennials in China. The line (which has delicate scents like “Romancy Rosy”) has been six months in the works, but a bit of the preliminary work must have slipped past in an effort to get products to consumers sooner. It was only after Unilever trademarked it that they realized what the letters also stood for. In response, Alan Jope, the company’s head of personal care, was quoted as stating, “never mind,” to investors last week.
As Design Taxi reported, this is going to pose quite a challenge for KJU beauty products to gain any kind of name recognition. A quick search online and “KJU” results first in Kim Jong Un’s Wikipedia page.
The takeaway: Cosmetics line KJU is not named after Kim Jong Un. Also, it’s probably a good idea to at least Google a potential brand name before you trademark it.
