company forced to change name WTF

[xXNovaxX]

Hope this is filed under rite thread, since its from The Age, and it being a news site

http://www.theage.com.au/travel/travel-news/wtf-we-have-to-change-our-name-20091001-gdk8.html


What the? The Wisconsin Tourism Federation has changed its name due to an unfortunate acronym.
The Wisconsin Tourism Federation in the US has decided to change its name after realising its acronym matched a crude form of internet slang.

The WTF is now the Tourism Federation of Wisconsin (TFW).

'WTF' is an acronym widely used on the internet standing for 'What the f---?'.

The tourism organisation was reportedly unaware of the associations of its acronym until it became the butt of jokes on blogs and websites.

Lead lobbyist for the group, Chet Gerlach, said yesterday that the federation made the change after the meaning of the common text-message lingo was brought to their attention.

The organisation has had the same name since it was founded in 1979 – a time when it could never had predicted it would one day become crude internet slang.

Google is yet to catch up on the name change, with search results still displaying the problematic name.

[mypurpleundercracka]

haha wtf

[Flaming_Arrow]

lol wtf

[minilunchbox]

Gossip Girl used WTF in their promos for, 'Watch this fall.'

[AppleXY]

rofl wtf

[dejan91]

As if no one in the company would know what wtf is an acronym for. That's just fail...

[excal]

There's also the World Taekwondo Federation, but no-one's changed that yet *giggle*

I also don't think they were forced to change their name (as this would imply government intervention). Probably more accurate to say they were pressured or, even better, felt compelled to change their name due to new information re: the acronym.