An article in the Wall Street Journal this week indicates that in recent years members of Congress have paid more attention to creating attractive names and acronyms for legislative bills they sponsor. Every little bit of support can help in getting a bill passed, so having a nice name is better than having a boring name.
The power of branding reaches just about everything! “In December, President Barack Obama signed the Help HAITI (Haitian Adoptees Immediately to Integrate) Act, but he was helpless as his Democrats saw their DREAM (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) Act go down the drain.”
Former President George W. Bush even noted the power of names in his recent book, according to the article: “Bush disclosed that his “one regret about the PATRIOT Act is its name.” In his memoir, “Decision Points,” Mr. Bush writes that the title implied that opponents of the Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act were unpatriotic. “I should have pushed Congress to change the name of the bill before I signed it,” Mr. Bush writes. It “was initially called the Antiterrorism Act,” but “Congress got clever and renamed it.”
Tip: A good name can help market anything.
