Bic Loses Its Mind Over Parody Customer Service Letter
from the the-parody-is-mightier-than-your-pride dept
At some point, major corporations are going to have start learning that parody is protected speech and fighting against it just makes them look silly. I sort of thought Larry Flynt settled that some time back, but apparently not. From professional sports teams, to well-known bands, to cable companies, corporations just seem to have the thinnest of corporate skin.Now, thanks to reader Mike Mozart, we can add BIC, makers of pens and shaving equipment, to the list of companies that are going after obvious parodies. This all started when an obviously fake customer service letter with BIC's logo atop it went viral recently. Here's a picture of the letter:
Should you be unable to read it, it's a humorous fake reply by BIC to a customer complaint about BIC pens that were only able to draw certain, um, things. You should be able to get the gist of it from this text in the letter:
Having spoke to our team of engineers, we cannot ascertain why one of the medium point BIC crystal ball point pens that you purchased "only draws massive cocks". We have never heard of this occurring previously and we couldn't recreate this anomaly so we can only assume that this pen was temporarily possessed and we will drop it off at a local church for exorcism.Now, the letter includes jokes about genetalia, so of course I think it's hilarious, but even if this humor is too low-brow for you, you're hopefully not so dense as to be confused over whether this is real or not. I mean, it'd take quite the gullible loon to surmise that this was a real letter from a real person at a real company's very real customer service department. I think humanity in general is smarter than that. BIC, apparently, disagrees.
Hopefully it won't accidentally end up next to the marriage register.
We are sorry to hear that this pen ruined your Grandmother's birthday card and that you must now sign for credit card purchases by "penning an enormous phallus"...Yes, the pen lids are very good for scratching your ears and blowing through the lids is a great way to annoy people. no, we have never received any reports of our orange BIC disposable razors shaving penises into things.
Many thanks,
Edgar Hernandez
Advertising and Promotional Products
When Digiday reached out to Bic, a spokesperson for the company replied:Which is apparently exactly what they then did. There are several reports of the image being removed by social media sites and internet sites as BIC has been going around and filing takedown notices. Their logic is reportedly that their logo was used on the letter. Unfortunately for them, that is fairly well-traveled ground when it comes to the law's view on parody and speech. It's protected and those images should be put back up immediately.
“This letter is by no means an official document, this is just a forged document used for humoristic purposes by Internet users. The Bic Group is now trying to contact the transmitter website to ask them to point out that it is a fake and a joke and by no means an official document from the Bic company and, if necessary, to remove it from their website.”
And, on top of that, all this thin-skinned behavior is going to net the company is the photo and story going even more viral than it already has. In true Streisand Effect fashion, tons more people will now hear about this, the letter, and the company's response than ever would have if the folks at BIC had decided to just have a chuckle instead of going legal. So congrats, BIC. You're the proud owner of your very own crap-storm.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: customer service, parody
Companies: bic
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
I tried finding a record of how much they actually spend, but failed. I did find, however, that they're introducing a new perfume and for that alone the marketing budget is $15 million.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Timmy, you can't even spell "genitalia". But you do crap up a storm.
Hey, Mike: even if Techdirt had some balance with thoughtful pieces that weren't mere re-writes of standard fare, is Timmy's diarrhea the best you can afford for "odious comic relief"? Or do you just like his frequent mention of your own laughable claim to fame?
You've found the site of Internet Quipper Mike "Streisand Effect" Masnick! -- As you'll frequently be reminded!
16:27:58[r-730-4]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Timmy, you can't even spell "genitalia". But you do crap up a storm.
What an arrogant prick you must be IRL, probably one of those people that tries to tell programmers/surgeons/military hardware analysts/dog groomers/arctic explorers/grocers/chemists/astromers (etc you get the point) how to do their job better....
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Timmy, you can't even spell "genitalia". But you do crap up a storm.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dawn+french+expert&sm=3
Where Dawn french is on morning TV and every day is an expert at a totally different subject ranging from Royalty to space exploration.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Wow. Most people just point out typographical errors without resorting to being an asshole.
And it's not like you have anything close to a perfect record on that yourself.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
reminds me of a bastardized quote from Men in Black
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Response to: Anonymous Coward on Dec 17th, 2013 @ 8:44pm
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Viral indeed!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The Signature!
I wonder if Mr Hernandez's pen is possessed too?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: The Signature!
They should really have sent fifteen replacement pens, so that the complainant could join the "PEN15" club
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
OK, seriously, whether or not you like "dick jokes", who didn't at least smirk at that thought?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
*runs for the patent office*
Wait a second. Considering it's cursed would I have to register it in the Church or something?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Trolololo
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
They still make lighters?
"From the click of your bic, I can tell you're a prick".
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I can see why they are upset
Sometimes large cooperation's PR departments do have a chuckle and send humorous replies to customers, although it is usually over social media so others may see. BIC obviously decided this very low brow humour had the potential to put off customers if mistaken for genuine.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I'm a Gullible Loon
I guess not.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
That aside, I should like to share a strange anomoly. It has snowed heavily here in New England these past few days and on occassion I have taken a leak on the snow when feeling the urge outdoors. Strangely all of my urine patterns are in the shape of a large BIC pen. Go figure.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Proper response
Are they braindead morons? Of course it isn't an official document! Why the hell are they asking this? More likely, they were going for the gotcha story, where they ask an idiotic question and then post the ridiculous looking answer. And Bics answer is very clear. If someone like Digiday, who should be familiar with fake customer service letters, is asking Bic about it, maybe other "morons in a hurry" will be confused. So Bic asks people who post it to clarify it is a hoax. A very reasonable request. Only in Tim's mind, could this be unreasonable.
So in addition to cops, Tim hates corporations, too, I guess.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Proper response
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Proper response
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Proper response
Searching the web for "bic parody takedown" also comes up with quite a large number of reports of takedown notices.
I'd have no problems with BIC just complaining about the parody and nicely asking for a disclaimer. I'd make fun of them for it, but wouldn't get outraged. When they're issuing takedowns, however, they've crossed a line.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
These are the Legalese Threats being related to anyone whom Dares share that image!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Here are the Actual Screen Capped BIC Takedowns against my Facebook page
Here are the Actual Take Downs against my Account by BIC against my share of the top Reddit Front Page post of the BIC Parody Customer Service Parody Letter.
This damaged my account and hundreds of others across the Internet including Twiiter, Tumblr, Facebook, Imgur, Google + and 4chan.... Good luck with 4 chan BIC here are must takedown notices!
https://www.facebook.com/JeepersMedia/posts/10202815991750323
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Um...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
by SOAL CPNS
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Yep
[ link to this | view in chronology ]