Discount online shopping platform Temu has changed its name just one year after bulldozing into the Australian retail landscape.
A company spokesperson confirmed they had changed the pronunciation of the brand to ‘Teh-mu’ despite hard-launching the original pronunciation ‘Tee-mu’ with a US$7million (AUD$10.59million) ad during the 2023 Super Bowl.
‘As Temu continues to expand into new markets globally, we want to ensure our brand name has a consistent and memorable presentation across different regions and languages,’ the spokesperson told FEMAIL.
‘After careful consideration, we determined that the new pronunciation achieves this goal better.’
The original Super Bowl ad featured a woman spinning around, showing off her Temu purchases to the tune of ‘I like it, it’s mine, the prices blow my mind’.
The new advertisement, which is animated, features a catchy song about ‘shopping like a billionaire’ and the new pronunciation of the brand name.
Fans of the online retailer, which launched in North America in 2022 before heading to Australia and New Zealand and later Europe, were quick to notice the change.
Many of them commented on the old video after heading back to ‘see if they were right’.
‘I KNEW the pronunciation of tee-moo was changed!!! Now it’s teh-moo, and it doesn’t sound so fun anymore,’ one woman said.
‘Watching both commercials back to back is like traveling to a different alternate universe,’ laughed another.
‘So I’m not the only one who searched for this! Good. We’re not crazy,’ a third added.
Others dismissed the new pronunciation.
Discount online shopping platform Temu has changed its name just one year after bulldozing into the Australian retail landscape
‘No matter what I’ll always pronounce Temu like tee-moo,’ one shopper said.
The new advertisement was played four times during the 2024 Super Bowl, costing an estimated US$28million (AUD $42.34million).
But according to Australian shopping watchdog Choice, this is just pocket change for the Chinese-owned company.
About 1.26 million Australians shop on Temu each month and are on track to spend a combined $1.3billion this year alone.
The company’s success has been credited to their aggressive marketing campaigns, ‘gamification’ of the shopping experience and ‘impossible to beat’ prices.
But those same features have also repelled customers with many claiming the products must be of a lesser standard, or that the company must make money by selling data.
The Temu app is now located in 50 countries – with most of the goods being made in and shipped from China.
According to Temu, its low prices are possible because it connects consumers directly with the factories that produce its goods allowing it to cut out ‘multiple middlemen’ and deliver ‘wholesale’ prices.
The company says this process constitutes a ‘teaming up’ hence the name Temu and its original pronunciation.