Thoughts on naming diaper brands in stories

[MinnesotaWriter]

Been wondering about this for a while, but I've been curious about what people's thoughts are on how diapers are described in stories. It really can be broken down into four options:

• Naming the diaper brand (i.e. Goodnites, Pampers, Depends, etc...)
• Using real-life brands, but only describing how the diapers/pull-ups look and not actually giving the brand name
•  Creating fictional diaper brands for the story
•  No connection to any real-life/fictional brands

For me, what's worked best with my stories is to avoid directly stating the brand names and to instead give a thorough description of what the diapers or pull-ups look like. Most brands have fairly distinctive designs so it's still clear to readers what brand is being talked about. I've always found it a bit weird when a story is cluttered with a bunch of diaper brand references, though I suppose it could work under certain circumstances. However, I'm not going to reference Goodnites in every other paragraph unless Kimberly-Clark is paying me to do so.

What are your preferences as readers/writers?

[WBDaddy]

As a writer, the only time I want to make mention of a diaper brand is when a character is literally staring at a package of them.  I think it provides an immersive effect in certain situations.  Maybe the character is wrestling internally with a fascination with diapers, and they find themselves staring at a package of diapers on the store shelf.  Describing every aspect of the package, including name brand and such, really drives home that fascination part. 

Alternatively, perhaps a character was forced/coerced into wearing diapers, and now they're facing a package of what is currently wrapped around their middle.  The details on the package spark internal dialogue about the character's situation, adding tension and amplifying the disgust/shame component.  

But no, I'm not a fan of using the name brand over and over.  Especially not when it's an obscure or specialty name brand.  

[ValentinesStuff]

Mentioning brand names - Only if it is important or occurs in a conversation.

Using real brands. - Definitely, but remember that what is new and popular today may be out of business tomorrow.

Creating fictional brands - Not a fan, nor of Burger Prince, Halmart, or other fake business names. An exception is if you have a weird specialist thing that doesn't really exist. One story I remember had a "training" diaper that was itchy when wet.

If it's important to the story mention it, but as @WBDaddysaid don't dwell on the name. 

[Personalias]

Two factors:

1.  Does it serve the story?  If it's a name brand like Luvs, Huggies, Pampers, et. al. mentioning it as such can be a good tool in showing something is off.  For example, an altered reality story where the MC is a "giant baby" effectively.  Mentioning that the diapers are main stream baby brand stuff can be used for juxtaposition as to how weird the world has gotten.  A good way to contrast between adult self and babyish circumstance.  

In Fetish, the main character ends up in Luvs, adding to the idea that everyone else saw her as a baby.  Just a small extra touch to add to the unreality.  Since as AB's the audience knows a variety of ABDL diapers, too.

In College or Cribs, the main character is an AB and so ending up in an adult sized version of a baby diaper, when he already has worn bambino's, abu, rearz, etc differentiates the bizarre magical experience from his previous fetish play.

 

It can also work for physical AR stories, to show how small the main character has gotten, especially if it's established that they're AB or have regressive tendencies before hand.  They've shrunk so much they can actually fit into the REAL baby diapers.

Alternately, a "custom brand" an be used to world build.  I've got a recurring "evil agency" that uses "Bay Bee" diapers in their work.  Using that particular description/pseudo brand is shorthand that they're involved, even if you never see them. 

In Unfair, I mention Monkeez.  Descriptively it's similar a 90's Pampers with an ad campaign similar to a lot of Huggies at the same time period (the ones filled with babies doing adult things like football or "acting" like pirates), though I never mention those brands in those words. 

This is because a lot of descriptors for DD diapers tend to be old plastic backed style; (which makes sense considering that DD is specifically a fetish repository and a big chunk of the AB community still prefers plastic).  Also, I've seen DD stories that explain that they're plastic backing because the adhesive tapes are easy for strong Amazons to remove; not so much for poor captured Littles.  Velcro is easier and so avoided.

The ad campaign for the diapers is a form of gaslighting and juxtaposition, too.  It can be dark mirror.  It's cute in those old commercials, because the babies playing football or looking for buried treasure yada yada are "acting" in a fantastical setting, making it look "fun" or whatever.  (This is in contrast to the other down to earth realistic approaches showing kids playing in a backyard or wiggling in a crib, and adoring/stressed out parents being glad that at least they don't have to fret over what type of diaper to use.) 

But with Monkeez, I thought it would be a fun dark mirror, if what if the "babies" were Littles instead.  So you've got basically an adult, in a diaper commercial, wearing nothing but a diaper and a pirate hat, and having to pose and pretend they're having fun on a mock pirate ship, while a voiceover makes leak jokes; adding to the humiliation.

Furthermore, I mentioned that Monkeez sizing started at "1", and that "1" was sized for actual Little children, and that the upper numbers 7,8,9,10 etc. were sized for Amazon children.  At first, this makes the company seem inclusive. They're recognizing that Little children and Amazon children are different.

 It's not like a 20 something year old Little being put in a size 3 or 4 diaper and being declared "a baby again".  But then there's the more subversive side of it.  They're being put in the same type of diaper they wore the first time around, and the only thing that's different is the sizing marker.  They're literally wearing a diaper sized for them that is made for bigger babies.  As far as this marketing campaign and Amazon society is concerned, they're not "babies again", it's they never stopped being babies.  They just grew moved up into the next available size of diaper.

Meanwhile, mentioning specific AB diapers can help seem to ground things in reality.  In Lily, I mention a big baby cult with some fantastical elements and impossible things.  But they put they're victims in kink diapers; showing that they're still connected to the "real world".

These are all ways in which specific diapers, either real or fictional, can add to a story.


2. Is a commissioner paying me to name drop?

[Elbs]

Personally, I try to keep it as vague as possible in large part because I know I'm writing for an audience who knows more about diaper brands (especially the adult-sized ones) than I do, since I don't have a sub and I'm not into wearing diapers personally. I don't want to knock someone out of my story by mentioning a brand they've worn and describing it wrong. I'd much rather just say that the caregiver character "ordered diapers online with X, Y, Z features" or something like that.

Most of my older stories had them buying diapers at their local drugstore, because I had seen diapers at places like that and it had never occurred to me that they might not be good enough quality for the heavy usage depicted in my story. But the ABDL community set me right on that, so now I often have drugstore diapers show up as "shitty diapers that leak easily" or not at all.

[BoTox]

 I've altered all the names in my stories to be similar but not name brand as it removes any chance of being sued or harrassed by the trademark owner.

[Alex Bridges]

I use pampers and huggies as generic words more than brands.

I mention an ABDL brand it is to set a mood, as in they’re wearing Rearz Princess to embarrass them.

Otherwise, it’s kind of like listing a person’s physical measurements, IMO. You’re telling rather than showing, possibly listing it because it’s what you like, and taking away the readers’ right to imagine the scene as they like it.

[Ohmo]

Because many brand names are trademarks, using them without permission of the brand owner could be costly should the owner(s) take exception to the use.

Based on discussions with an attorney:

• Brand name use in personal and online conversations is OK because the parties involved are not using it in trade
• Brand name use in a story posted here or elsewhere with no expectation of payment is OK because it is not being used in trade
• Brand name use in a book, song, story or other publication, without the brand owner's permission, that is sold is not OK because it is used in trade.

Caveat:  I am not an attorney nor do I portray one on TV or the internet.  For valid information on legal issues consult a licensed attorney.

[ValentinesStuff]

http://www.authorlaw.com/blog/posts/28294#:~:text=Even if you are paid,you make money that counts.

https://www.dailywritingtips.com/use-of-trademark-names-in-fiction/

 

A couple of online thoughts. This I would consider to be important,,,

Nobody in the novel dies from eating a Whopper, and no character is fatally run over in traffic because his running shoes are defective. But even if the author had implicated one of these brands in someone’s death, legal retribution would be unlikely; the sheer volume of media overwhelms any one corporation’s efforts to monitor for and suppress defamatory references to their products.

 

So if you plan on bad things happening because of a brand name, you might want to use a fake name.