When Jon Currier of Belmont Wheelworks told the Boston Herald that Kryptonite is "the jello of bike locks", he seems to have meant that it's so well known that the brand has become a name for the generic object. But he also may have been influenced by the recent discovery that most Kryptonite locks can be opened in a few seconds by using the barrel of a Bic pen as a key. "The jello of bike locks" is not a slogan that, shall we say, frames the product in an ideal way.
[Update 9/20/2004: Alex Smolyar emails to say:
See, I would have said "the Kleenex of bike locks" although I suppose that isn't any more effective for marketing purposes.
]
Posted by Mark Liberman at September 16, 2004 03:54 PM