Millennial text-speak might soon find its way out of your smartphone—and onto your detergent. The multi-national consumer goods maker, Procter & Gamble, have filed trademark applications for four popular acronyms: WTF (what the f***), LOL (laughing out loud), NBD (no big deal), and FML (f*** my life). 
 
 The Cincinnati, Ohio-based P&G; is best known for brands such as Febreze, Dawn, and Tide. The company has applied to use the acronyms on its liquid soap, dishwashing detergent, hard surface cleaners, and air freshers, CNBC reports. 
 
 Attorney Megan Hymore, who is part of P&G;’s senior counsel, made the filings in April of this year, but so far, the outcome is TBD. (That means to be decided, in case you didn’t know. If you want an extensive list of online acronyms to make puns with, you can find one here.) According to Ad Age, the US Patent and Trademark Office has requested clarification regarding the applications, and P&G; has until January to respond. 
 
 While P&G; has yet to comment on the move, it’s likely part of strategy to appeal to younger consumers. Board member Nelson Peltz has previously posited that millennials want brands that they “have an emotional attachment to.” But using familiar language, or language a company assumes its target audiences speak, can sometimes backfire. Remember when Microsoft tried to recruit interns by addressing them as “BAE” (a moniker of affection meaning “before anyone else”)? And the last time that P&G; sparked a millennial trend people started eating Tide pods. 
 
 It’s unclear what P&G;, a company that spent more than $7 billion worldwide on advertising in the fiscal year ending June 2017, will do if the trademark applications are approved. The Cincinnati Business Inquirer mused that WTF will be used “as social media shorthand for ‘Why That’s Febreze.’ But WTHK (‘Who The Heck Knows’)?” 
 
 As for Quartz’s predictions, we think “wow, that’s Febreze!” could be a contender for WTF. Or maybe, “no better detergent” for NBD. We’re going to bet on “freshen my laundry” for FML, and translate LOL to “love over lint.” IDK if P&G; will take our suggestions, though. ||||| Procter and Gamble wants to trademark three-letter acronyms including 'LOL' and 'WTF' to use in an unlikely category: dishwashing detergents and soap. 
 
 P&G, owner of brands such as Febreze, Tide and Mr Clean, has applied to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to use 'LOL' (which stands for Laughing Out Loud), 'WTF' (What The F---), 'NBD' (No Big Deal) and 'FML' (F--- My Life). 
 
 P&G has applied to use the four acronyms in liquid soap, dishwashing detergent, hard surface cleaners and air fresheners. ||||| Welcome to the latest edition of Marketer's Brief, a quick take on marketing news, moves and trends from Ad Age's reporters and editors. Send tips/suggestions to [email protected] 
 
 Bob Dylan has a new whiskey brand—but he's gotta defend the brand name in court. More on that below, along with details on Oprah's latest Kraft Heinz collaboration and what major U.S. beer brand is now bigger in China than it is in America. Also, find out how major cosmetics brands are having a hard time keeping up with the Kardashians. But first, some trademark news that might make you L.O.L. 
 
 The 411 on P&G; 
 
 If you thought all those texting acronyms couldn't be yanked out of the digital commons and trademarked, forget that. Procter & Gamble Co. has filed for trademarks on household and personal-care use of LOL, WTF, NBD and FML. FWIW, there's no indication products bearing those names exist yet, and P&G; doesn't have trademark approval. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has sought clarifications from P&G;, which has until January to respond. 
 
 Credit: Procter & Gamble Co. 
 
 Precise uses remain TBD, as P&G; declined to provide TMI. But competitors who might want to use these acronyms may now face FOMO. BTW, despite those old untrue P&G-Satanism; rumors, NBC reported in 2012 that LOL does NOT secretly stand for "Lucifer Our Lord." 
 
 This Bud's for China 
 
 Budweiser might be stuck in a long-term sales slide in the U.S.—but the King of Beers is surging in China. In fact, more Bud is consumed in China today than in the U.S., according to a new report from Rabobank citing figures from GlobalData. An AB InBev spokeswoman confirmed the accuracy of the data. 
 
 Turning the brewer's classic American brands into international powerhouses has been a priority ever since Belgium-based InBev acquired St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch in 2008, creating AB InBev. Rabobank credits the brewer's multichannel strategy in China, including distributing beer through modern retail stores like Hema and Super Species, as well as its advertising on platforms including Weibo. 
 
 Revlon can't keep up 
 
 There was long that lingering suspicion that in the circular logic of social celebrity, the Kardashians were famous only for being famous. Well forget that. They now can be famous for wrecking much of the mass cosmetics business last quarter. Tarang Amin, CEO of cosmetics marketer E.L.F., earlier this month cited "growth of mega-influencer-driven brands" in part for somewhat disappointing top-line results. 
 
 Without naming names, the two top mega-influencers in cosmetics over the past 18 months have been Kylie Jenner (Kylie Cosmetics) and Kim Kardashian West (KKW Cosmetics). Coty (CoverGirl) and Revlon posted declining North American mass cosmetics sales last quarter, and while they didn't blame the Kardashian-Jenner industrial complex, it probably took a toll. Forbes recently pegged Jenner's net worth $900 million, $800 million of which stems from the cosmetics. She may be having a bigger effect on packaged goods than sister Kendall did with that Pepsi video. 
 
 Knockin' on the courtroom door 
 
 Like many celebrities, Bob Dylan has his own liquor, a whiskey brand named Heaven's Door that he launched earlier this year. 
 
 Heavens Door whiskey 
 
 But now the folk singer must defend the brand name from a legal challenge brought by Heaven Hill Distilleries, which says the name sounds too similar to its Heaven Hill whiskey. The Louisville Courier Journal has more on the trademark infringement lawsuit that was filed last week in federal court. 
 
 Super sized pasta 
 
 Olive Garden's Never Ending Pasta Pass—weeks of all-you-can-eat pasta, plus soup or salad and breadsticks for about $100—goes on sale Aug. 23. This year, apparently in honor of America's, ahem, growing appetite for the offer, there's an even more gluttonous version. Olive Garden plans to sell 1,000 52-week passes, for $300 each plus tax. The more traditional Never Ending Pasta Pass, which lasts eight weeks, is $100 plus tax. And there are more of those—23,000. Last year, Olive Garden offered 22,000 of the $100 eight-week passes, in honor of the 22nd anniversary of its Never Ending Pasta Bowl special, as well as 50 trips for two to Italy for $200. 
 
 Pumping up 
 
 KFC enlisted its brawniest colonel yet to promote the new Double Crispy Colonel sandwich, which is its Crispy Colonel sandwich with a second fried chicken fillet. Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, the world's strongest man, apparently set a world's record for pulling the most chicken sandwiches at one time in an arm-over-arm pull by dragging a giant box of sandwiches, weighing more than 700 pounds, across a floor. Of course, KFC had him dressed as the chain's founder and captured the feat on video. ||||| In this still image from a commercial spot provided by Procter & Gamble, a mother, left, talks to her daughter about racial bias. The Procter & Gamble advertisement is part of a shift by some corporations... (Associated Press) 
 
 It's a simple message: Beware of racism in the United States. 
 
 But Procter & Gamble took a calculated risk with its ad that features black mothers speaking to children about racial bias through the decades. The company says it knew there might be a backlash — and the ad has been criticized as being anti-police or anti-white. But it says it felt after hearing from consumers that the ad would be worth it. 
 
 "The Talk," which makes no mention of any P&G product, has been the talk of social media. 
 
 The ad is part of a shift by some corporations that are making emotional appeals to consumers by treading into territory that could be polarizing. But experts say there are likely to be more of these ads, as companies seek younger customers who respond to them. 
 
 "Brands just can't push their messages out there," said Luis Garcia, president and lead strategist of MarketVision, a San Antonio, Texas-based marketing firm. "They have to create meaningful ways that are going to engage people." 
 
 Consumers have so many choices among so many brands, Garcia said, that people remember only what matters to them. 
 
 In the P&G video released online last month, a mom in the 1950s tells her daughter she is not just "pretty for a black girl," as someone told the girl, but "beautiful, period." And a mom in the 1960s tells her son he may hear an epithet, but not to let it hurt him. Another mom, this time in the 1990s, reminds her son to take his identification with him as he sets off for practice. 
 
 None of the company's products, like Pampers diapers, Tide detergent or Crest toothpaste, are shown. Instead, after clips of mothers giving children "the talk," the video invites people to discuss it online with the hashtag #TalkAboutBias. 
 
 The ad is scheduled to begin airing on national television next week. 
 
 Damon Jones, a spokesman for Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble, said not including products in "The Talk" was a conscious decision because the company wanted viewers to focus on its message. Ads for P&G products often feature smiling babies wearing its diapers or highlight dishes that sparkle after using its soap. 
 
 "There's a time for product placement," Jones said. "There's a time to do something broader." 
 
 Jones said the company believed now was the time to tackle racial bias after hearing feedback from consumers. He said "The Talk" ad seemed like an evolution from other socially conscious Procter & Gamble efforts, and cited its #LikeAGirl campaign that criticized emojis for being "stereotypical" and "limiting" toward women. 
 
 Procter & Gamble isn't the first company to try to tackle difficult topics. Some brands are specifically known for taking positions on political or social issues. Other big brands have tried it too. Earlier this year, Nike unveiled its "Equality Has No Boundaries" commercial featuring well-known athletes. And Anheuser-Busch released a Super Bowl ad that focused on its founder's immigrant past. 
 
 Such ads often draw criticism, not only from those who oppose the social message but also sometimes from people it's trying to appeal to. 
 
 Pepsi was reproached early this year over a video that took images from Black Lives Matter protests and ended with Kendall Jenner, a white woman, giving a police officer a can of Pepsi. Critics said the commercial trivialized the issue of black residents' interaction with police. 
 
 And two years ago, Starbucks launched a "Race Together" campaign aimed at getting customers to talk about race, only to end it shortly after critics claimed it was poorly executed and a marketing ploy. 
 
 The P&G ad has drawn positive and negative reactions. 
 
 Jennifer Johnson of Detroit said the conversations portrayed in the ads are rooted in real life. She says she's had similar talks with her now-adult daughter over the years. 
 
 "She liked to go out and I would tell her to be careful," said Johnson, 55, who is black. "She would say 'alright, ma. I got you.'" 
 
 Johnson also believes that the ad, although illustrating black experiences, is meant for all audiences and that it may steer more business toward P&G products. 
 
 Victor Taylor, a black 63-year-old retiree in Bakersfield, California, called the ad "reality." 
 
 "That's what (black) children go through every day," Taylor said about being treated differently. "I don't find the ad prejudiced. I found it informing to the children growing up." 
 
 Still, the ad didn't make him want to go out and buy Crest or Tide, Taylor added. 
 
 Some social media users saw the ad as stroking racial animosity. Conservative columnist Michelle Malkin said it amounted to "identity-politics pandering" and alienated law enforcement. 
 
 "P&G should stand for quality consumer goods, not empty Protest & Grumble that divides more than it unites," Malkin wrote. 
 
 Robert Passikoff, president of the customer research firm Brand Keys Inc. in New York, said that's the risk Procter & Gamble took and wondered how shareholders, even those who agree with the ad's message, might respond. P&G is currently resisting activist investor Nelson Peltz, who is seeking faster changes and better financial results from the consumer products company. 
 
 "I'm the last of the Mad Men era," Passikoff said. "I believe companies are not there for social change. They are there to sell products." 
 
 But Benjamin Bates, a professor of health communication at Ohio University's Scripps College of Communication, said he believed the reward outweighed the risk since the ad appealed to African-Americans, and younger consumers who are more comfortable with diversity. 
 
 "The people the ad would alienate are a small percentage," Bates said. "I, as a CEO, would probably think, 'If I lose some racists because of this, I'm OK with that'." 
 
 Jones said the company is exploring more campaigns that tackle difficult issues about gender, racial and equality. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Russell Contreras and Corey Williams are members of The Associated Press' race and ethnicity team. Follow Russell Contreras on Twitter at http://twitter.com/russcontreras
– Acronym-heavy news reports are proliferating after a recent development regarding Procter & Gamble. Ad Age reports that the consumer-goods behemoth has put in the paperwork for the rights to use four well-known letter combinations—WTF, LOL, NBD (which stands for "no big deal"), and FML ("f--- my life")—in association with some of its products. Per CNBC, those items would include air fresheners, dishwashing detergent, liquid soap, and hard-surface cleaners. Quartz reports the trademark applications were filed in April, and that P&G now has until January to respond to requests for clarification by the US Patent and Trademark Office. There's no apparent sign that any P&G products exist yet using these acronyms in their names. CNBC muses that P&G likely wants to employ these acronyms to reach a demographic that might not be as interested in cleaning supplies and other household items as others: millennials. Quartz notes that going the millennial-friendly route has sometimes gone awry for brands, but it still plays the guessing game as to how P&G may wield these the acronyms, with WTF being a possibility for "Wow, that's Febreze!" and "NBD" serving as a stand-in for "no better detergent," among other suggestions. TBC....