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| I made my own named coke bottle! |
Coca-Cola has
branded their bottles with the 150, which apparently is now 250, most popular
names in Great Britain. I am sure all the Johns, Sarahs, Gurpreets, Emmanuels,
etc out there are having a swell time looking for the bottle with their name on
it. Sounds so fun! For me it is not so fun – there isn’t a bottle with my name
on it.
For people
like me, who have only ever personally come across one other person in their
whole 21 years of living with the same name as them, it just causes us to
re-experience the feelings of exclusion and upset we had as a child. I was
always so jealous of all my friends with their personalised mug or key-ring;
they could all find countless products with their name on it. My cousin Tash
even had a black headband with her name on it that she wore every day for ages.
I didn’t have one. Social exclusion much? These feelings of exclusion and upset
have resurfaced by Coca-Cola’s new marketing campaign. They are just not
considerate of people with unique names. I can’t search the shelves for hours
on end to find a bottle with my name on it like Harry, Amy, Amandeep and Kofi
can. I just have to drink a bottle with any old name on it.
There has
only ever been one other time in my life were I have found a ready-made product
with my name on it. It was a bracelet. I found it at a jewellery stall at Chokhi
Dhani (family translation: Crazy Village), Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. I made my
dad buy it for me. I was 20. It made me so happy. It filled that gap in my
heart from my childhood. I wore it every day, until I lost it. It was a sad
day, I had so much love for that bracelet. Perfect example of why people like
me have so much more appreciation to give to a coke bottle than Josh, Ben and
Rachel have.
So yeah, I
don’t like Coca-Cola’s new marketing campaign. But will I change my name? No.
Because, although 9/10 people can’t say my name properly and it isn’t on a coke
bottle, it is unique. I don’t need the first letter of my surname said after my
name so I know people are talking to me (I believe I went to school with a Robyn
O). I don’t even need the ‘ita’ in my name. I like to think that I am like Beyoncé
and Adele – I don’t need a surname to define me.
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