Recent news regarding humanitarian aid has led me to consider the place that names of emergency aid and nutrient supplements have in the world. One product has featured heavily in my research, that being the aforementioned Plumpy'Doz. This product is a lipid-based nutrient supplement manufactured by Nutriset, which is UNICEF's chief supplier in emergency aid situations. It contains highly nutritious ingredients that give starving children all the energy they need in their growth development. In fact, a child just needs three teaspoonfuls to replace every meal. This product, along with Nutriset's flagship product Plumpy'Nut, as well as Plumpy'Sup, Plumpy'Soy, and Plumpy'Mum, make up the Plumpy range: some of the most important nutrient supplements in the world.
Due to their global importance, it is immediately clear why naming this kind of product is fundamental to its growth. It will be seen on a worldwide scale and be used in emergency, disaster-hid zones. A report on lipid-based nutrient supplements claims that their names must be "kept simple and must not reflect any medical purpose." Plumpy'Doz does just that. If you see this name, you cannot connect it to medicine in any way. Furthermore, the name is kept minimal and succinct. It is important to mention that this name is seen on a worldwide stage and where the words have connotations in English, they may not have connotations in another language. However, this does not detract us from the fact that for us English speakers, the first part of this products name 'plumpy' is closely connected to the English word 'plump'. This word is usually used to described overweight children or adults in a cute way. If you look at it like this, the word is perfect for describing a product whose main purpose is to increase the weight of children. The second part of this product's name stumped me for quite some time as to its meaning. I finally came to the conclusion that the word is a shortened form of 'dose', which although has some medicinal connotations, is once again a good choice for describing a product such as this. This is because Plumpy'Doz works just like a dose of medicine: A small spoonful can help a lot. What seems clear is that by changing the standard spelling of the word 'dose', Nutriset removed their product somewhat from the medical side of things, coinciding with the aforementioned report, while still keeping the product name simple. Therefore, Plumpy'Doz is an accurately thought-out name for an important product such as this.
Although Nutriset's products are the most well-known and manufactured on the largest scale, other brands of nutrient supplements on the market follow a similar suit in their naming process. Some good examples include Eezeepaste-Nut (manufactured by Compact, Norway), Medika Mamba (Meds & Food for Kids, Haiti), Nutty Butta (Tabatchnick Fine Foods, USA), and Re:vive (Mama Cares, USA) (source).