If you look around you will see that several makers refer to basic boxes as zappers.
One example
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Philips-DTR5520-Freeview-Terrestrial-Receiver/sim/B003H9N3KK/2
There's also a reference to zapper being a UK slang name for a remote control. So both are presumably correct.
Still a very silly (and confusing) name.