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The Keeper-Moon Cup Thing

 
A bit of a backlash happened in the Menstrual Cup community when the Keeper Inc. brought out a silicone version of their keeper cup. Why? Because it is called "Moon Cup".
 
This means there are 2 silicone menstrual cups called a "Mooncup". One (the original, made in 2000) is made in the UK and is called "Mooncup" (no space). The second cup (2006) brought out by The Keeper Inc, is made in America and goes by the names "Mooncup" and "Moon Cup" (depending on which website you visit, usually with the space).
 
Some consumers who had been shopping for the UK Mooncup have commented on how confusing it is, particularly on ebay, to know which cup is which. With a couple of people I have seen, reporting they bought the USA cup believing it was the UK one (some being EXTREMELY unhappy about this). Especially since some of them bought their Mooncups unaware that there was another product that looked the same, with the same name.
 
Of course not only is this confusing and annoying to the customer who buys a product that was not what they thought it was (Particularly if they were purchasing the UK cup because of a reason such as it's Vegan seal of approval). But a simple fact is that each US Moon Cup that is sold to someone who thought they were buying the UK Mooncup, is one less UK Mooncup sold. Which could be said to be detrimental to the UK Mooncup's business because it is taking business off them.
 
Now part of this confusion of not making the product's manufacturer clear is as a result of the ebay sellers or websites not being specific enough about this new cup (which of course has nothing to do with the company who made the cups). but for some unknown reason, the Keeper's websites took a couple of months to actually put any information up about their new cups at all. Which is odd, you'd think they would jump at the chance to advertise their new product. Which meant that anyone trying to confirm if this "Made in the USA" cup calling itself "Moon Cup" was a new brand or the same company as the UK Mooncup, just having their product made in the USA. The blame for this confusion has to go to The Keeper Inc. who chose to bring out a cup with the same name as one already on the market. Had the product been given a different name, then none of this confusing situation would have happened.
 
Because the UK Mooncup were the first to market and sell a product using the name "Mooncup", I personally find it unethical for another company to bring out an almost identical product with the same name. Not only because it is unfair on the company who already had that product, but also because the consumers are now in a situation where they have to check to make sure who makes the particular cup they are looking to buy - which inconveniences the consumers. And people like me who talk about the cups, now have to call them "Mooncup UK" and "Moon Cup USA".
 
It is also interesting and strange considering they had this product in development for many years, they did not update their website to include the product until a couple of months after other websites/ebay sellers were selling it, and that during that time it was not listed, their customer service staff did not seem to know of its existence. (When people called to ask about it, their own staff had never heard of it). Then for them to continue to provide apparently poorly photocopied instructions with the word "Keeper" crossed out and "Moon Cup USA" hand written on it.... even after it had been for sale for several months. It's really quite baffling.
 
Especially since the Keeper until then, had a positive reputation. I find it surprising that they wouldn't want to include their "keeper" name in the product title to take advantage of that. If they had called it a "Keeper Clear" or something, people would have jumped on it and been extremely happy to have a non-brown alternative!
 
So All of this is the reason that The Keeper inc. is blacklisted from this website, and will continue to be until I am satisfied that they have done something positive to rectify this situation.... which they haven't as yet - so probably won't. Which means that while I will continue to keep all links and info available on their products, I wish to make it clear I personally do not like the way they went about this and do not endorse them as a company.
 
If you want more details on this, then look at this website, which goes into much more detail, and also gives suggestions of what to do if you've bought the "wrong" cup, and a petition to sign: http://liadan.bravehost.com/keeperethics.html
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