When I saw the headline, I was hoping for a vicious lawsuit involving trademark infringement. Or perhaps vegetarians taking offense at the idea of a town named after a meat-based meal might have found a corporate entity willing to go to bat for them.

But no, the truth is a little less interesting: Dairy Queen would like Sandwich, Ill. to change its name to Wrap, Ill. as part of a publicity stunt. The Daily Chronicle has the story:

Dairy Queen requested that Sandwich, Illinois, and two other similarly named towns change their name to Wrap in honor of the fast food chain’s new chicken wrap 5 Buck Lunch...

The release went on to say Dairy Queen would donate to the nearest Children’s Miracle Network Hospital in the name of Wrap, Illinois, and would donate blankets to the city “to help the needy stay wrapped up and warm this winter.”

A Dairy Queen rep says the company doesn’t really expect any of the three towns they've asked actually to change its name. Thus, they're just doing it for publicity. Which they're getting right now. Man, they're smart.

Sandwich Mayor Rick Olson says it's not the first time the town has been approached about a name change:

In 1996, Campbell’s Soup wanted to add soup to the town’s name....

Olson said the city also was once approached by Kentucky Fried Chicken, which had 10 people dressed as founder Colonel Sanders parachute into the local airport to have their new chicken sandwich evaluated by the Sandwich police.

Are there any local towns that might be bribed to change their name? Perhaps our sister station Q98.5 could convince Rockton to become Countryton. Maybe Payless ShoeSource could bribe Freeport to change its name to Buy-One-Get-One-Freeport during the BOGO sale. Cherry Valley? No, no. Say hello to Cherry 7UP Valley.

For the right price, who knows.

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