Renaming Iconic Buildings in America: The New Corporate Takeover

When it was announced earlier this summer that the Sears Tower in Chicago was going to be renamed the Willis Tower, we had to endure a million "Whatchu talkin' about, Willis?!" quotes from the general media. While it was fun to bring back that angry and archaic "Diff'rent Strokes" line, yours truly wanted to assume it was a mask to cover hidden rage at a corporate name hijacking the iconic name used on an equally iconic building for seven decades. Out of all of humanity's faults, this might be one of our worst: Being complacent to corporate takeovers of all shapes and sizes when actions could be done to stop it. We nevertheless readily accept the renaming of a public building with a corporate title because we figure it ultimately doesn't matter in the bigger picture.

Unfortunately, some of us don't look at that bigger picture and see this as one part of how some (and I do stress some) American corporations are hijacking a sense of quality and values in our country. If it isn't enough that corporations such as Enron and financial institutions have screwed over millions of people and their savings, it's creative-deficient CEO's who ultimately destroy the quality of this country's entertainment industry if not our own good health. All of this has been on a fast track since the beginning of the 21^st century, almost as if there's an agenda to accomplish it before we're even in to the second decade of the new century.

These are all the obvious things we've seen as corporate exec ideas get more moronic and care for profit over quality or ethics continues to escalate. A lot of these might get mentioned contentiously privately and in editorials by a frustrated public who remember when there used to be quality and better ethics in the corporate world. But when it turns to usurping a notably-named public building, the public anger appears to be in smaller supply. Instead, we've been dealing with that new insidious corporate maneuver with more of a lighthearted stance in order to give it more sanity.

This certainly isn't the first time a corporation has taken a well-known building moniker we're all used to and changed the name to their own. In many cases, it's been a respected corporate name changed to a less-respected one. NBC's building at Rockefeller Center in NYC, for instance, was the RCA Building for 50 years until controversial General Electric bought the network in the 80's and decided to put their sign up at the top instead rather than perhaps letting a natural evolution build up of calling it the NBC Building.

Of course, most people did just that without any prodding and they now call it 30 Rock rather than the GE Building.

You won't find anybody, either, who won't stop calling the Sears Tower just that rather than the Willis Tower. Yet what about local buildings where a local community knows a building by a non-corporate name and instead previously featured the moniker of a person who gave back to his or her community?
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If you need a relatively local example of how a large public building name can be hijacked by corporate suits a couple of times over, look no further than the Texan stadium hosting the Houston Astros. Just before the turn of the 21^st century, Enron was still on top of the world and decided to put their name on that stadium as the ultimate ego boost. Once the Enron name became anathema in America, it didn't take long for Minute Maid to look into paying to usurp the sign space so even more people can be aware they sell orange juice. Minute Maid Park is the name of it today.

Yes, there used to be a time in America when significant or even less ostentatious buildings were named after people who made a difference nationally or on a local level. I'm sure your own town or city has several buildings named after local citizens who did something that contributed significantly to help the community grow and prosper. In my hometown in Oregon, a local building that was used annually for the Oregon State Fair was as well-known as any well-known building mentioned above. The Jackman-Long Building was named after two men who wrote about and contributed significantly to agriculture in Oregon during the middle part of the 20^th century. When the building was first built 33 years ago, those two had their names put there with intention of it staying there indefinitely.

Recent headlines here announced that a corporation by the name of Americraft Cookware negotiated with the financially struggling city to pay out a quarter of a million dollars so their company name could be placed on the building instead. This set off a blaze of protest (particularly from relatives of the original namesakes) as well as putting city officials in a quandary since they'll be getting a goodly sum in the six figures to help pay debts the fair owes.

The complexity of the argument comes in the details: Americraft Cookware has been a long-time exhibitor at the State Fair for years. And some citizens argue that the original namesakes didn't contribute as much to the state as history says. From a different perspective, you could say that's also a lack of respect for history and capitulating to corporations willing to bail cities out financially so the corporation's name can be in lights.

It's situations like this that show the infiltration of a new corporate takeover in America and one that's now encroaching in your local communities. As most media tells us, though, the longtime references to the original building names will most likely prevail over the corporate name changes, no matter how prominent the signage is on the front of the buildings. Should we live long enough to see the American Dream be restored in America, perhaps we'll see ordinary citizens with a lot of money and community clout buy out corporations and put a real name up there on the company headquarters skyscraper.

A John Q. Public Building sounds damn good right now to help start the repair of a nation regularly taking that name off via the temptation of a corporate check.

Source:

http://statesmanjournal.com/article/20090813/NEWS/908130352/1001