Initial Fallout From McDonald's Losing Its EU 'Big Mac' Trademark Is Mockery From Burger King

from the mac-attack dept

While trolling online is something we generally have to suffer through rather than enjoy, I, for one, am absolutely here for the brand on brand trolling that occasionally sparks so much fun. Especially when done cleverly, this business on business violence is absolutely delicious. I was therefore very much delighted to learn that the initial fallout after McDonald's losing its trademark rights to the "Big Mac" in the EU is that some European branches of Burger King are delighting in rubbing McDonald's nose in it.

Burger King's Swedish operation recently revamped menus to poke fun at McDonald’s loss. Under the header Not Big Mac’s (sic), the sign listed meal options like “Burger Big Mac Wished It Was”, “Like a Big Mac, But Actually Big” and “Big Mac-ish But Flame-Grilled of Course”.

The chain released a video showing customers tentatively ordering from among the unusual choices, while a staff member appears unfazed as he calls out for Anything But a Big Mac.

And here is the video.

All fun aside, there are a couple of things to notice in all of this. First, it's likely that everything Burger King did with this campaign ought to be considered Fair Use even if McDonald's had never lost its trademark. After all, the entire point in calling out the "Big Mac" name in all of this is squarely to differentiate it from Burger King products. And, of course, there's roughly zero chance of anyone in the public being confused in any way here.

Separately, this again calls to mind our mantra that content is advertising and advertising is content. The reason this campaign is a success goes beyond watching one giant fast food company mock another. Instead, this works because Burger King is clearly having so much fun with it. And it's having that fun in a way that's approachable, snarky, and quite funny. That's all advertising gold, in that it both grabs attention and generates positive reactions with the public, all while messaging a positive difference between Burger King and McDonald's.

So, if the primary fallout from a giant company losing its trademark is this kind of fun, I'm very much here for it.

Filed Under: big mac, competition, eu, fair use, mockery, trademark
Companies: burger king, mcdonald's

UK Cops Threaten Facebook Users With Arrest After They Mock Department's Tiny Drug Bust

from the small-minds-with-smaller-ideas dept

Thickness of skin appears to be inversely proportional to the amount of power one has. This has been shown again and again. It often makes high-powered "victims" appears as though the only reason they entered public service was to punish the public for its lack of respect. The lesson never learned is that abuse of power never results in a respect net gain.

Because this lesson is seemingly impossible to learn, we get things like this. The West Yorkshire Police proudly announced the smallest of drug busts on its Facebook page.

***Cannabis Seized***

PCSO 687 Ian Campbell and PCSO 882 Ben Hughes attended Walton colliery nature park and seized a small quantity of Cannabis from a young man who was parked up alone.

Walton Colliery nature park will be firmly on our patrol plan in the future to prevent this behaviour.

For this, it was mocked. And rightfully so! Who cares if you busted some dude with his personal stash of weed? Good for you, I guess, but the general public is mostly of the opinion this should be legal and seldom finds enforcement of laws it doesn't agree with grounds for commendation. This should have come as no surprise to the West Yorkshire Police.

Instead of doing nothing, the Police did this. (h/t Alex Griswold)

Unfortunately we have had to ban a number of people from using this page today. I would like to remind everyone that this is a Police page and whatever your thoughts on one of my officers seizing drugs in the community, being insulting, abusive or offensive can and will result in a prosecution under the Malicious Communications Act 1988.

We will not overlook the significant harm that illegal drugs cause to our communities. We know from experience that this can progress from using what are perceived to be recreational drugs to more addictive and harmful substances and the resulting criminality used to fund their continued use.

Please use this page with respect or you will be banned and maybe even prosecuted

Police Inspector Martin Moizer.

First off, the Police did not "have" to ban anybody from the page. The mockery could have laid beside the accolades as an object lesson about interacting with the public re: pitifully small drug busts announced with the same gravity as the apprehension of an armed robbery suspect. ("firmly in our patrol plan" lol)

Second, fuck you. That law isn't there to protect the powerful from the powerless. But when you craft a law that can be used this way, it guarantees it WILL be used this way. And the law doesn't say what the law enforcement officer says it does (SHOCKER). It actually says this act is illegal:

Offence of sending letters etc. with intent to cause distress or anxiety.

If any officers were distressed or anxious because locals dragged them a bit for peacocking their tiny pot bust, they're in the wrong field of work. Facebook commenters pale in comparison to the invective routinely hurled at officers during the course of the day, often delivered in person by someone on the receiving end of an arrest. And that's even less anxiety-raising or distressing than the sticks-and-stones equivalents (knives, mostly) suspects might bring to bear against officers of the law. "Words may never hurt me," say the police, as they seek to use others people's words to hurt them.

Finally, there's the idiotic claim about gateway drug use, one that has been repeatedly found false. Busting people for smoking weed in a park isn't going to do anything to stop the trafficking of harder drugs or the "resulting criminality" involved in their distribution. Not only is the West Yorkshire Police willing to abuse a law to silence critics, it also wants everyone to believe they reside in a magical dystopia where minor pot busts in a nature park somehow accomplishes something of value to society as a whole.

Filed Under: free speech, malicious communications act, mockery, personal stash, tiny drug bust, uk, west yorkshire, west yorkshire police

Coal CEO Threatens John Oliver With A SLAPP Suit

from the not-a-good-idea dept

This past weekend on John Oliver's Last Week Tonight, he took on the issue of "coal" and some politicians' obsession with coal jobs as the only true "American" jobs. The whole segment is interesting, but obviously not the kind of thing we'd normally write up. What we do frequently write about, however, is censorious threats, often from wealthy execs, designed to try to silence people from commenting on issues regarding those doing the threatening. And, it appears that's exactly what happened with coal exec Bob Murray, the CEO of Murray Energy, when he found out that John Oliver was doing a segment that included some bits about Murray.

I recommend watching the whole thing, but the parts about Murray include a brief bit around 4:45 in the video and then a much longer section starting around 12:30 in the video, where Oliver notes:

I'm going to need to be careful here, because when we contacted Murray Energy for this piece, they sent us a letter instructing us to "cease and desist from any effort to defame, harass, or otherwise injure Mr. Murray or Murray Energy" and telling us that "failure to do so will result in immediate litigation..."

Oliver notes that this is the first cease & desist his show has received (which he agrees is incredible). Oliver also points out that Murray has, in fact, been known to follow through on these threats -- suing the NY Times, a contributor to the Huffington Post and more. Many of these lawsuits appear to be fairly classic SLAPP suits, in which the lawsuits against reporters and journalism outfits are designed to try to silence them. Thankfully, Oliver and HBO have good lawyers who clearly know Oliver's rights to talk about, criticize and satirize Murray -- and Oliver then spends the next ten or so minutes doing so (hilariously), even to the point of involving a talking squirrel (you need to watch it yourself to understand why it makes sense). He also notes this at the end:

Bob Murray, I didn't really plan for so much of this piece to be about you, but you kinda forced my hand on that one. And I know you're probably going to sue me over this. But, you know what? I stand by everything I said.

Kudos to Oliver for taking a principled stand here for free speech on an important issue. Of course, Oliver has HBO and its lawyers to back him up, but it sure would be a hell of a lot easier if we had strong anti-SLAPP laws to protect him. So, once again, this is why we need a strong federal anti-SLAPP law, not to mention better state-level anti-SLAPP laws. Bob Murray appears to be based in Ohio, which (lucky him) appears to have no anti-SLAPP law, while I believe John Oliver is in NY, which has an incredibly weak anti-SLAPP law.

Perhaps, sometime soon, John Oliver can take on the need for stronger anti-SLAPP laws.

Filed Under: anti-slapp, bob murray, coal, first amendment, free speech, john oliver, mockery, reporting, satire, slapp
Companies: hbo, murray energy