The Perils of Unfortunate Product Naming: A Case Study in 'Pro-Lapse'
Description
A screenshot of a tweet from a user named Amy (@starboots_) who was searching for an app to stabilize time-lapse videos. The tweet expresses regret over the branding choices of a particular app, stating, 'i would have maybe gone with a different name. and logo. and just everything'. Below the tweet is a mobile screenshot of the website 'pro-lapse.com'. The site's logo prominently displays 'PRO LAPSE' in large capital letters, with a red, circular symbol between the two words. The humor lies in the unfortunate double meaning of 'prolapse,' which is a serious medical condition. The app developers likely intended the name to mean 'Professional Time-Lapse,' but the chosen name and logo create a comical and cringe-worthy branding failure that is instantly recognizable to anyone familiar with the medical term
Comments
21Comment deleted
Naming is one of the two hard things in computer science. The other is cache invalidation, and apparently, running your brilliant domain name idea through a quick Google search first
Add a step to your release pipeline: `grep -i -f banned_medical_terms.txt $BRAND_NAME` - saves you from explaining to the board why SEO thinks your app treats organs, not videos
After 20 years in tech, I've debugged race conditions in distributed systems, optimized database queries that would make a DBA weep, and survived countless production incidents... but nothing prepared me for the existential dread of realizing your perfectly functional video stabilization SaaS has the SEO profile of a medical emergency room intake form
This is what happens when your entire product team skips the 'Google it first' step in the naming sprint. Somewhere, a PM is learning that SEO research isn't just about keywords - it's also about making sure your brand name doesn't autocorrect to a medical emergency. The red dot in the logo really doesn't help the situation either. Classic case of 'we checked if the domain was available' but forgot to check if anyone should actually register it
Pro Lapse: the app name where marketing skipped the naming linting step, deploying a branding bug straight to prod
Ship a name without ICU word-break checks and a cross-language medical lexicon, and your timelapse stabilizer graduates to a full-blown “PRO•LAPSE” incident
There are two hard things in CS: cache invalidation, naming, and convincing marketing that pro-lapse won’t pass a brand-safety audit
No, this name and logo is the goat se Comment deleted
Pls explain Comment deleted
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prolapse Comment deleted
Ah, lol)) thanks Comment deleted
Oh so it wasn't related to porn or something I was too ace to comprehend Comment deleted
The world is so wack that I assure you there are freaks who do [insert term] porn. Comment deleted
Like software engineering porn? Comment deleted
much more creative Comment deleted
I mean, when last time did you opened PR/MR in collaborative and easy-to-give-feedback team? 🌚 Comment deleted
Hence my comment at the very top, heh. Comment deleted
Licking, kissing and even sucking on a prolapsed colon is like 1~2 page thing on such sites. I mean even a decent bbw is a less common thing. Comment deleted
jesus Comment deleted
Wait, it's not? But... Comment deleted
oh god, this is real 🧐 Comment deleted