Every time I have to refer to some products, I am not sure what article (if any) has to be used. For example, there is a company called Contigo, which makes termo cups. In order to refer to those cups, some writer said:
Contigo cups are....
As far as I understood, in case of other products, I would say Tupperware cups, Nivea creams, Cannon cameras, etc. But what about the singular? A Tupperware cup? A Nivea cream?
However, I have noticed, that some companies add the article the before the name that is used to refer to their products. Say there is the trademark Hello which stands for a computer program, and in order present it to the reader, they say the Hello toolbar is this and that Why the article the is used in front of the noun phrase? If I am offered to use the product of Hello, should I say I installed Hello toolbar or Installed a Hello toolbar? I got absolutely confused and cannot understand how/when/why the definite article the is used before the trade names.
Answer
One thing this depends upon is whether the products in question are singular or plural.
For example, if you own just one tupperware cup, you might ask a member of your family to hand you 'the tupperware cup'. But if you have many you might say 'please hand me a tupperware cup'.
Presumably there is only one 'Hello toolbar'. Therefore it would make no sense to talk about 'a Hello toolbar' since there is only one. It would be 'the Hello Toolbar'.
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