This week Donald Trump offered advice on the Boeing 737 Max aeroplane, currently grounded after two fatal crashes in six months that have been attributed to the flight control software. “What do I know about branding, maybe nothing (but I did become President!),” he tweeted, “but if I were Boeing, I would FIX the Boeing 737 MAX, add some additional great features, & REBRAND the plane with a new name. No product has suffered like this one. But again, what the hell do I know?”

Boeing could indeed take a cue from the soft drinks industry and rename the troubled aircraft the Boeing 737 Classic, or the Boeing 737 Zero. Unfortunately, the earliest sense of “rebrand” – from as long ago as 1788 – is of fraudulent activity: to rebrand a sack of flour or a cow was to put a new brand (owner’s mark) on it, and so try to pass it off as one’s own.

The real-estate tycoon president knows nothing about that sort of thing. But rebranding is still just a trick, putting a new label on the same thing to see if it will fly. With all due deference to Trump’s marketing acumen, air passengers will want a better guarantee.