Not To Act Like It) Southwestern Bell Telephone Company used this initialism in an advertising cam- paign during the 1970s. The campaign backfired, of course, because a substantial number of people felt very strongly that the company did try to act like it. Sometimes they were right. (I worked for the company in management at the time, so I know.) The ad campaign was short-lived, but the company was not. Southwestern Bell later changed its name to SBC, and merged with and acquired a number of companies outside the southwest region of the United States. One of those acquisitions was the remnants of the once great AT&T, which had been Southwestern Bell’s parent company until the breakup of the Bell System in 1984. SBC assumed the name in 2006, and is now known as AT&T. |