No, Maxwell House Isn't Changing Its Name. Here's Why Everyone Thinks It Is

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It's no secret that brands change every so often. New products and recipes release, logos shift, and even company names change to better reflect the direction they're going. One household coffee brand, Maxwell House, has made waves with a recent announcement that it would be changing its name after 133 years in business. But is it real?

In short, no. On September 29th, which just so happens to be National Coffee Day, Maxwell House announced that it would be changing its name to "Maxwell Apartment." The stated idea was that this would reflect the current housing market and how more Americans are choosing to rent long-term instead of buying homes. In the words of Holly Ramsden, Head of Coffee, North America for the Kraft Heinz Company (Maxwell's parent company): "Maxwell House believes no one should have to go without tasting great coffee and Maxwell Apartment delivers the same delicious taste and love, at a value that celebrates all our fans are doing to make smart choices in their lives."

If you haven't picked up on it already, the announcement is a joke, and the name change was never made official (to be fair, a close reading of the statement does briefly mention it's a "limited-time rebrand"). Even the press release assured that the coffee's taste would not change. Companies pull these sorts of practical jokes on consumers every now and again, as pancake lovers may remember with IHOP's brief joke name change to IHOb — that would be the International House of burgers — in 2018.

In addition to the joke name change, Maxwell House announced a deal for its customers: a "lease" of a year's supply of coffee in the form of four 27.5-ounce cans of ground coffee for a price of $39.99, which was at least temporarily available on Amazon. Unlike Maxwell Apartment, this deal is real. If you trust this part of the announcement, it comes with a lease paper customers can sign, though there's no reason to believe it's a real, binding legal agreement.

Maxwell House claims that its "lease" saves the average coffee drinker upwards of $1,000 annually, though that was calculated in the form of daily runs to a coffee shop (which can add up very fast), instead of far cheaper canned ground coffee. To its credit, though, $39.99 for four cans is a pretty good deal, as an individual 27.5-ounce can runs for about $12.99 on Amazon, totaling $51.96 for four.

In all, the Maxwell Apartment promotion is a good bargain if you like its coffee or even if you use it in unconventional ways like upgrading chocolatey treats with coffee or using the empty can as a bird feeder. As of the time of writing, it appears to be sold out on Amazon, though if you aren't too put off by the weird housing joke and really want this deal for yourself, it's worth checking back periodically to see if it restocks.