Warner Bros. Discovery Backtracks: HBO Max Name Returns Amid Branding Blunders and Memes

Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) is eating a bit of humble pie—and it knows it. The company is bringing “HBO” back into its streaming platform’s name, rebranding Max once again as HBO Max, and it’s painfully aware of how that move will be received. Anticipating the backlash, WBD leaned into the chaos, flooding social media with self-aware memes the moment the announcement dropped. One quip summed it up: “These rebrands are trying to murder me.”

But behind the jokes lies a branding mess that industry pros say has only deepened over the years.

“This isn’t a bold pivot—it’s a brand faceplant,” said Eric Schiffer, chairman of Reputation Management Consultants. “Calling it Max in the first place was like lighting 50 years of brand legacy on fire. Now they’re trying to sift through the ashes and rebuild with duct tape and nostalgia.” Schiffer didn't hold back, calling the “Max” signage a lasting symbol of a branding misfire.

The original decision in 2023 to ditch the HBO name in favor of the more generic Max was intended to highlight the service’s broader catalog—folding in Discovery’s lifestyle and reality programming. But to branding experts, the move was a self-inflicted wound that disconnected the platform from one of television’s most respected names.

“Removing ‘HBO’ was a masterclass in how to squander brand value,” said David Aaker, vice chairman at branding firm Prophet. He likened the blunder to the infamous New Coke fiasco of the 1980s—or Elon Musk’s baffling rebrand of Twitter to X. “This wasn’t just a name change; it was corporate amnesia.”

Even HBO’s social media team couldn’t resist poking fun, riffing on the Twitter/X rebrand with a wink: “Your move, X.”

Brand strategist Lisa Kane of Siegel+Gale added, “You can’t slap a name on a product and expect it to work if the vision behind it isn’t clear. WBD still hasn’t answered the key question: What is HBO really trying to be in today’s streaming world?”

The HBO branding saga has been a maze for years. Back when it was still Time Warner, the company launched HBO Go for cable subscribers, then HBO Now as a standalone service, and finally consolidated everything into HBO Max. That was supposed to be the end of the confusion—until it wasn’t.

So why remove the HBO label in the first place, especially when it symbolized prestige and quality? At the time, WBD execs said the change reflected the service’s broader appeal, including content that was lighter, more diverse, and suitable for families—something the HBO brand wasn’t traditionally known for. JB Perrette, WBD’s head of streaming, even said then that HBO’s “edgy” reputation didn’t align with their goal of drawing in a wider, more family-friendly audience.

Yet this week, Perrette seemed to change his tune, declaring that the service isn’t aiming to be an all-in-one content buffet anymore. Instead, the goal is to offer standout programming that caters to both adults and families—without trying to be everything for everyone.

It’s a recalibration—and a public admission—that the previous direction didn’t stick.

In the end, it’s not just a matter of slapping "HBO" back onto the logo. If WBD truly wants to reclaim the streaming spotlight, it’ll need more than clever tweets and a name revival. The company has to commit to a clear identity and deliver content that lives up to HBO’s heavyweight legacy.

Until then, every change feels a bit like déjà vu—and audiences are left wondering what Max, HBO Max, or whatever comes next, really stands for.