genericide /jə-NAIR-ə-siyd/. noun. A more colorful term for when a trademarked name becomes genericized, or so commonly used that it becomes generic and is in danger of losing its protected status. Kleenex and Band-Aid are the prototypical victims of genericide. Technically, when a brand name is used generically, it is an example of antonomasia, a kind of metonymy in which a proper name is used for a common name. Fear of genericide is why you don’t hear Google employees using Google as a verb or see it used that way in their official sites and documentation. Google it and see!
For a living example, see the official Velcro videos ►Don’t Say Velcro and ►Behind The Scenes: Don’t Say Velcro.
“Today, all have become common nouns, bereft of monetary value, victims of ‘genericide’. This term was coined by marketing mavens to denote trademarks and brand names repeatedly lower-cased in everyday parlance.” (Scott Winokur)
“ …‘genericide,’ or (as Orin Hargraves puts it) ‘trademark creep’-is a common, neverending process. Common words that started as specific, trademarked products include ‘zipper,’ ‘thermos,’ ‘escalator,’ ‘popsicle,’ ‘band-aid,’ and ‘pooper-scooper.’” (Mark Peters)