Monday, December 5, 2011
Food & Life Finger lickin' kale? You deserve some kale today?
Posted by Cliff Bostock @cliffbostock on Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 10:00 AM
- http://eatmorekale.com
The artist's shirt satirizes Chick-fil-A's slogan, "Eat mor chikin," which is written by cows in the company's marketing material. The artist, Bo Muller-Moore has decided to fight back, according to the New York Times:
“This is corporate bullying,” Mr. Muller-Moore said. His lawyer, Daniel Richardson, sent Chick-fil-A a letter in November, contesting its claim that the slogan “is likely to cause confusion of the public and dilutes the distinctiveness of Chick-fil-A’s intellectual property.”Chick-fil-A does not have any stores in Vermont. The closest one is in Nashua, N.H., about 120 miles from Montpelier, where Mr. Muller-Moore, an Alabama native, has lived for years. He began making the shirts in 2000, at the suggestion of a local farmer. The few dozen printed at first have swollen into thousands of orders filled every year, he said, but he still works out of the overflowing studio above his garage, buying his art supplies nearby.
In a time when people even "brand" themselves, I suppose this is not surprising. I remember when I first started working in journalism that I got a pissed-off letter from Coca Cola's legal department when I used the word "Coke" without indicating it was trademarked in parentheses. This struck me as dumb but I found that I received the same letter wherever I was working, even in Elberton once. Eventually, I followed an early boss' solution — always to substitute "Pepsi" or "RC" for the endangered Coke name. I have no idea if they still enforce a rule that discourages free advertising.
Comments (12)
Showing 1-12 of 12
Chick-fil-A's assertion is ridiculous, as the essence of their claim is that customers would be confused as to whether "Eat More Kale" is affiliated with Chick-fil-A.
But Coke was, and still is, in a different spot. Confusion isn't its concern; instead, it's the risk that "Coke" becomes generic term for all soda. If that were to happen, then any other soda maker could call it's beverage "Coke." I'm more sympathetic to them trying to prevent that than I am towards Chick-fil-A.
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Actually, the artist asserts that his shirt isn't inspired by or related to the Chick-fil-A slogan in any way. He says a local farmer asked him to print the shirt for him, and neither of them had ever heard of Chick-fil-A. Which is kinda believable seeing as they have no locations in Vermont and had none in the Northeast at all 10 years ago when the dude started making the shirts.
When I was a kid in the 70s, I'd see bumper stickers that said "Eat More Possum." That predated Chick-Fil-A's slogan; the artist should point to that as precedent.
Besha, I'm not sure I believe the artist never heard of CFA - the article states that he is from Alabama.
But, I agree this is corporate bullying. Is a suggestion to eat more of a certain food really corporate property?
The guy was doing just fine for 10 years until he wanted to trademark "his" slogan. That's where he went wrong and pissed off the ChickFilA people.
As a successful small businessman myself, I wonder how many slogans I can steal, then cry "corporate bullying" when some lawyer thinks I should obey the law too. How big does my business need to become though before I'm no longer above trademark laws?
Actually, there has been a Chick-fil-A in the Northeast for more than 10 years, located in Paramus Park Mall, Bergen County, NJ. It may even date back to the mall's opening in 1974.
My cousin Chris is opening a gyro shop in Midtown and I am working on a slogan for him. I borrowed these. But Chris is an emigrant from Greece, so he can claim he never heard any similar slogans from the corporate bullies. That makes everything A-OK.
From the home offices on Willoughby Way, here are the Top 10 Suggested Slogans for my cousin Chris’ gyro stand.
10. We love to cook and it shows.
9. Don’t take food home without us.
8. Put Chris souvlaki in your mouth and get a bang out of life
7. Get a jar of tzatziki. It’s a container of fun. Finger lickin’ good.
6. Chris-a-Gyro, the Midtown Atlanta treat
5. Hey Cliff…he likes it
4. The lunch and dinner of Champions
3. Where’s the lamb?
2. Got yogurt?
And the No. 1 Suggested Slogans for my cousin Chris’ gyro stand:
1. Eat more grape leaves
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