Generic Brand

Ever wondered what the difference is between a box of Corn Flakes and the less-fancy box of Flaky Corn Cereal next to it? Turns out, other than price…not much.

That’s because Corn Flakes is a name brand cereal, and with that whole “name brand” thing comes advertising costs, shiny packaging, celebrity endorsements, and other expenses that drive up the price of the product. Flaky Corn Cereal doesn’t have those expenses, because it’s a generic brand: an unremarkable yet largely indistinguishable version of its name-brand counterpart.

But generic brands aren’t just for grocery stores anymore. When a pharmaceutical drug’s patent expires, generics of that drug can be produced and sold, usually at a much lower cost, since the generic drug doesn’t have to recoup the R&D costs associated with producing the original drug.