Leading brand names work by shedding all reference to function

Evidence

Atwood’s mistake is always the same — the names are unsightly plays on the function or service that the corporations offer, whereas capitalism’s top brand names — Coca-Cola, Google, Starbucks — have attained an asignifying abstraction, in which any reference to what the corporation does is merely vestigial. Capitalist semiotics echo capital’s own tendency towards ever-increasing abstraction. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 277

Categorization

• XREF: Builds on the book’s earlier account of glamour and fantasy-mediated desire — top brands radiate the same asignifying abstraction Fisher described for stars and glamour.
• SHARE: The insight that successful brand names (Coca-Cola, Google) are asignifying while failed fictional ones (AnooYoo, HelthWyzer) play on function — a point for anyone writing fiction or studying semiotics.