Magic 8 Ball cease and desist
It seems that Mattel has finally noticed a joke Web site featuring an ASP based on the popular Magic 8 Ball toy and has issued a cease and desist notice. 
Now, I ‘get’ the importance of protecting a brand and understand how difficult this can be in the online world. But this particular site has standing unattended for about seven years, and was long forgotten by its owner. Until he received the lawyer’s letter that is.
Now he seems defiant and instead of just removing the site, has renamed it the “Non-Magic 8 Ball“.
Here’s a lesson in blogger relations: sometimes a polite email request will work wonders where the blunt enforcement of the law fails.
And by the way, I just asked the Non-Magic 8 Ball, “Has the magic gone?” It replied: “It is decidedly so.” Things that make you go hmmmmmmmmmmm.
Other Strive Notes about branding that you might enjoy:
- Product displacement looks at when brands are snubbed.
- Advice please…discuss how best to advise clients on branding issues.
- Corporates slow to react…highlights research that shows large companies (like Mattel) don’t get bloggers.
Filed under: public relations
Subscribe to our feed
Subscribe by Email
I can never work out whether the negative publicity that results is good or bad.
Certainly, when people read about such extreme measures taken when a polite e-mail would have sufficed, those taking extreme measures look like a shower of b’ards.
But….any publicity is good publicity? So extreme measures are better if they generate more ‘hits’? Maybe they’re being canny, if rather fickle, ignorant and unfriendly.
……
But brand *love* conquers all, surely?
Positive or negative publicity aside, where is common courtesy? Is the responsibility for looking after the brand at Mattel in the hands of their lawyers or their marketers?
It seems Apple has been sending off C&D orders to anyone using “pod” as part of a product or service name. I think it’ll be a PR disaster.
[...] accountjacker, especially a particularly powerful evangelist for your product can backfire, leading to a public relations nightmare far greater than the [...]