YouTube just revealed the name of their new ad-free, paid subscription service: YouTube Red. Eponymous of their eminently recognizable color scheme, I presume.
But this namer who shall remain nameless couldn’t help but observe that, well, YouTube Red bears a striking resemblance to a well-known website of the adult variety, RedTube, which Alexa ranks as about the 150th most popular site globally of any variety (Alexa having no relation to the aforementioned nameless namer, who doesn’t have a personal ranking of the aforementioned site at all.)
So, is this striking resemblance a problem?
Ultimately…not really. Any flak they catch for it from internet trolls will soon dissipate, and I doubt there will be any lasting consequences. After all, any adult film enthusiast (intimately) familiar RedTube probably uses YouTube too, and won’t care. And anyone who doesn’t care to dabble in smut probably won’t care either, for caring would mean admitting they know or think about such unmentionables in the first place. If the name suggested something more explicitly sexual, it would be a problem, and if it were hard to pronounce globally it would be a problem, but as it is at it’s core innocuous, I predict that like the iPad, YouTube Red will very quickly become a wholesome, household name that conjures no untoward associations in anyone’s mind.
