Brand extension, for example, may well alter brand meaning. What is Gatorade’s primary brand meaning after the extension into energy bars, nutrition shakes, and Propel Fitness Water? Or that of Alka Seltzer after it was extended to cold and flu relief? Brand extension in the context of brand meaning is discussed later in this chapter. As an example of direct experience and usage influencing brand meaning consider the experience of the Yellow Pages in the United Kingdom. After the British public was introduced to the Yellow Pages in the early 1970s, they became used to turning to the book to find a plumber or electrician at times of burst pipes and flying sparks. The directory was becoming associated with distress and domestic emergencies. The company’s response is discussed in Chapter 8. A more drastic example illustrates how advertising itself can occasionally lead to an unintended brand meaning. In the early 1990s, not long after the collapse of the Berlin Wall, an international brand of antiperspirant was launched in Eastern Europe. The advertising featured tennis player Steffi Graf, demonstrating how effective the product was even for someone engaging in strenuous physical activity. Use of antiperspirant did not enjoy the same penetration levels in Eastern Europe as it did in the West, and the commercial was interpreted quite literally. The brand quickly came to signify a way of preventing perspiration specifically while playing sports until appropriate measures were taken to correct the misapprehension.