Public takes rap over cling film

The makers of New Zealand's top selling plastic food wrap want people to use its name properly.

Advertisements telling people they should use the name Glad Wrap when referring to the Clorox product have been appearing in newspapers to protect the brand.

" ... We would appreciate you describing it as Glad Wrap plastic food wrap or Glad Wrap brand wrap," the advertisement states.

"Glad Wrap is New Zealand's leading brand of plastic food wrap ... Thank you for making Glad Wrap New Zealand's number one plastic food wrap brand."

About half a dozen plastic food wraps are available in New Zealand.

New Zealanders use about 119,000km of Glad Wrap a year - enough to go around the world about three times, and enough to prompt a Clorox spokesman to voice concern for the environment.

"It would be better if we could do without it," said marketing and sales director Richard Smith.

"But people do use it sparingly. The alternative is spoiled and wasted food."

Trademark lawyer and patent attorney Damon Butler, of the law firm A.J. Park, said the Glad Wrap campaign was the result of a law change last year which made trade names vulnerable if the public started using them as generic or descriptive terms for products such as food wrap or cling film.

"The campaign is to reassert that Glad Wrap is not the generic name for plastic food wrap," he said.

Some people could be left wondering what the fuss is about.

"The reality is that it is difficult to convince the public ... to change their behaviour," said Mr Butler.

"Whether they do or not, it is really about [Clorox] doing as much as it can to show it has taken the necessary steps to try and educate the public."

If people were asked if they distinguished Glad Wrap as a brand or a generic name for the product, hopefully they would pick the former.

The owner of the Sellotape brand has also taken steps to protect its brand.

Trademarks

* Under the Trade Marks Act (August 2002), a trademark can be revoked if it has not been protected by its owner and if it has become a common name in general public use. Previously, the test was if it had become common within its trade.

* Sellotape, beginning in 2002, took similar measures to Glad Wrap to protect its name, sending 500 to 600 letters warning people not to use the word to describe sticky tape.

* Trademarks that have been de-registered after becoming generic terms include escalator, gramophone, aspirin, kerosene, trampoline and transistor.