A closer look
Sony executives initially hated the name 'Walkman' and tried desperately to change it before the iconic portable cassette player launched in overseas markets in 1979. They thought the Japanese-English mashup sounded grammatically incorrect and attempted to sell it as the 'Soundabout' in the United States and the 'Stowaway' in the United Kingdom. However, the original name had already caught on with tourists and the alternative branding campaign was a spectacular failure, forcing the massive corporation to officially adopt the awkwardly translated moniker worldwide. It serves as a beautiful reminder that no matter how much money companies spend on expensive marketing focus groups and branding consultants, consumers will just call things whatever they want. Now, 'Walkman' is a legendary cultural touchstone, while 'Soundabout' sounds like a failed pediatric hearing aid
