Why does Canon...

[ChristopherCoy]

...call the "Rebels"... rebels?

Why can't they just call it a T1i, or an XSi? Does the word "Rebel" have any significance?

[groovyone]

They should call them by their real names, 400D, 450D, 500D....

[johnastovall]

Actually, Canon has different names for its low end dSLR's depending on where it is sold.

The Rebel models are Kiss in Japan.

Look a the different names they use depending on the market.

[ldelacruz]

Remember the Andre Agassi ad?

[texkam]

Apparently Canon's marketing folks think it sounds cool.

[donlfaulkner]

Why are you called "Chris" when your name appears to be "Christopher"?

[S-Man]

It was a marketing scheme back in the 90's when the original 'Rebel' film camera came out. The name implying it was breaking the rules of what a camera should be, in making a smaller, hipper camera than what people were used to. It just happened to also be Andre Aggasi's nick back then so they used him as a spokesperson and it worked.
Some have said they still use the name because the camera still gos against what many feel a camera should be- namely a large pro body that costs a lot of money.
The smaller size and affordable nature of the camera makes it a 'rebel' of conventional camera ideas.
Not so unique anymore with micro 4/3's coming out and stuff. But I've read/heard that's where the name originated.

[bondarnes]

Originally Posted by ChristopherCoy

...call the "Rebels"... rebels? Does the word "Rebel" have any significance?

Hey, Boy!! You from up North somewhere??

[texkam]

Hey, Boy!! You from up North somewhere??

Oh crap, I can see it now, somebody's going to go all PC on Canon and insist they change the name because of racial overtones. They'll have to rename it something benign like the Canon Butterfly.

[ChristopherCoy]

Originally Posted by groovyone

They should call them by their real names, 400D, 450D, 500D....

I think those sound more sophisticated.

Originally Posted by ldelacruz

Remember the Andre Agassi ad?

I barely remember Andre Agassi... so no, I dont remember the ad... LOL

Originally Posted by donlfaulkner

Why are you called "Chris" when your name appears to be "Christopher"?

I dont see how thats relevant, but 'Chris' is short for 'Christopher'... should we start calling the Rebels, 'Rebs'?

Originally Posted by S-Man

It was a marketing scheme back in the 90's when the original 'Rebel' film camera came out. The name implying it was breaking the rules of what a camera should be, in making a smaller, hipper camera than what people were used to.

That makes sense. I guess that just correlates with what Scott Bourne was saying about how camera manufacturers stick to the 'shape and feel' of a 35mm because people think thats what cameras should look like, when there really isn't any good reason that dSLR's have to remain in the traditional shape/form.

Originally Posted by bondarnes

Hey, Boy!! You from up North somewhere??

Nope... LOL I'm from so far south that I didn't know life existed North of I-10 for the first 10 years of my life... LOL

[CaptainTom]

The Japanese use interesting names for their products and companies.

The president of Toyota is Toyoda.

There is also the story about a Japanese car manufacturer who said that they needed to build a sports car that would compete with the Chevy Corvette.
The Engineers came to him and said they had something called a 240Z.
He said "how soon can we put it in production?"
They said " about six months "

he said " Datsun "?

[groovyone]

Originally Posted by CaptainTom

The Japanese use interesting names for their products and companies.

The president of Toyota is Toyoda.

There is also the story about a Japanese car manufacturer who said that they needed to build a sports car that would compete with the Chevy Corvette.
The Engineers came to him and said they had something called a 240Z.
He said "how soon can we put it in production?"
They said " about six months "

he said " Datsun "?

There was just a story on one of teh auto sites about the Toyota vs Toyoda. Ends up they had a contest to determine the logo and the winner had it Toyota, but because that was easier to write and the kanji had a lucky number of strokes, they kept it.

Here's teh article: http://jalopnik.com/5479439/you-say-...r-got-its-name

[keripayne]

My very first camera was a Rebel II, but I probably remember the Andre Agassi ads more because he was HOT than because I had the camera. (hey, I was 18, cut me some slack!! Haha)

[toverman]

The numbers and letters don't really mean much to me. Sam's information sounds pretty reasonable, that "Rebel" was used for marketing. Giving something a name can evoke certain things, make an object more personable. But it's obviously not universal.

Differences in philosophy, to me, are most evident in the way manufacturers market cars. Sometimes carmakers do different things. Ford sells the Ranger pickup, but uses the more generic payload capacity for its F-150 (and 250, 350). Would the Mustang be as memorable or significant if the car was named PBTX-5600? Who would have possibly bought a hideous 1980s-era Buick Riviera if it was named the Buick 9000?

[ggeen]

In Japan it is called the "Kiss". For the US they played up the Andre Agassi wild man image is everything in their marketing campaign.