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I'm always amused by shitty corporate attempts to boss people around on language usage. They're bound to fail, even if you screech "noo! muh traremurrk!" nonstop.

Although... this is smelling a bit like advertisement disguised as "brand awareness". If that's correct the HN OP is biting the bait.

Is this a uniquely US thing?

Among Portuguese speakers in my chunk of Brazil I've seen at the least the following genericised brands:

• nescau [nes.'käʊ̯]- for any milk chocolate. Even from brands not associated with child slavery, like Nestlé.
• todinho [tɔ.'dʒi.ɲo] - same as above, with another brand. And now I'm joining the majority who doesn't remember how to spell this brand. (I think that it uses "ddy" instead of "di"?)
• xerox [ʃe.'ɾɔks] - photocopy; highly productive, you'll also see "xerocar" (verb; to photocopy), "xerocaria" (noun; an establishment where you can photocopy stuff, often found near universities), even "xerocável" (adjective: something that can be easily photocopied, e.g. soft books)
• bombril [bõ.'bɾiʊ̯] - steel wool, specially the cheaper ones.
• sapólio [sä.'pɔ.ʎo] - any heavy duty liquid soap.
• veja ['ve.ʒɐ] - any ammonium-based cleaning agent. The name is the same as a conservative magazine, but that's a coincidence.
• q-boa [ki.'bo.ɐ] - bleach

(Pronunciation for reference, it might vary quite a bit depending on individual. For example I tend to use [ks] for "xerox", but plenty people add an epenthetic vowel to it.)