BIC Corporation
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Bic Corporation is a company known for making inexpensive disposable products such as cigarette lighters, ballpoint pens, and shaving razors.
Early History
The BIC Corporation was founded in France by Marcel Bic(h) along with his partner, Edouard Buffard in 1945. The two bought a factory and set up a business making parts for mechanical pencils and fountain pens. In December of 1950, Michael Bich introduced his own ballpoint pen, and named it the BIC. The 'h' from Bich was dropped in order to avoid a potentially inappropriate English pronunciation of the name. Although the pens weren't entirely new (Bich obtained patent rights from Hungarian inventor, Ladislao Biro), the process of manufacturing was entirely new. An inexpensive, and at the same time reliable, ballpoint pen was introduced to the world.
BIC in USA
Ten years after the release of BIC pens in Europe, the same BIC pens were introduced to the USA. US-Americans were wary of BIC pens at first. There were many other pens on the market at the time and people were hesitant to switch over. BIC's marketing campaign crushed all hesitation. "Writes first time, every time", the television ad proclaimed. BIC sold the pens for 29 cents each and, within a year, prices dipped down to a mere 10 cents.
BIC is also well known for their disposable razors. BIC may now be an eponym on two levels.
- it carries the name of its founder and
- It is potentially a proprietary eponym[[1] (http://maisonbisson.com/blog/?p=10056)] or genericized trademark
Now to BIC, means to shave in modern parlance (e.g. I BIC'd my head).
External link
- Company website (http://www.bicworld.com/index_en.asp)