Vicks

Vicks is an American brand of over-the-counter medications owned by the American companies Procter & Gamble and Kaz Incorporated. Vicks manufactures NyQuil and its sister medication, DayQuil as well as other medications in the "Quil" line. Vicks also produces the Formula 44 brand of cough medicines, cough drops, Vicks VapoRub, and a number of inhaled breathing treatments. For much of its history, Vicks products were manufactured by the family-owned company Richardson-Vicks, Inc., based in Greensboro, North Carolina. Richardson-Vicks, Inc., was eventually sold to Procter & Gamble in 1985. Procter & Gamble divested the Vicks VapoSteam U.S. liquid inhalant business and sold it to Helen of Troy in 2015.^[1]

In German-speaking countries (except Switzerland), the brand Vicks is sold as Wick to avoid brand errors related to pronunciation. In German, the letter "V" is pronounced like an "F," making "Vicks" sound like "Ficks" — a word that resembles the vulgar verb ficken, which means "to have sex" or "to fuck." To avoid this obscene and potentially offensive connotation, the company adapted the name to Wick, preserving the original sound without offending the local audience.^[2]