Menopausal Musings about a Name?

Is it control top pantyhose or is it Spanx? Did new hip good PR and a new name take a dying product and make it fresh?
Spanx started with footless and that was innovative, but it still was pretty much panty hose with-out the foot but not called footless panty hose. So what gives?

Women under 40 I am told do not wear panty hose. I have read that it is a defining difference among women of different generations. Women who are, or want to be under 40, would not be caught dead wearing panty hose because older women exclusively wear them. But tights? Everyone wears tights. The difference between panty hose and tights is that tights are usually heavier in the leg so they don’t rip as easily as panty hose. The concept is still the same. Tights come in control top too.

Spanx makes full body suits and other compression items, but I am just talking apples to apples. Control top product just to the waist covering the entire leg and foot. I own control top black tights and I think they are about the same as a pair of black Spanx tights. I mentioned that to a friend who insisted that for this dress I planned to wear I needed Spanx. This woman swears by Spanx and wears them faithfully. She does look smooth, so I am took her advise and bought my first pair of Spanx.

My evaluation is mixed. The Spanx felt good and I appeared to be smooth in all the right places. Twice the price of a pair of control top, (to mid thigh) black tights, I don’t really think the difference is worth the cost. I have thrown the Spanx in the washer and they seem to be holding up as well as the tights. It is fun to say Spanx instead of tights, but is that worth double the cost?

I want to hear some fantastic Spanx stories. I want to hear some fantastic tights stories.
Is there a debate that I am missing?