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Chris Who
43 comments
Jorge

@chriswho see also the Billboard Liberation Front

28 April at 19:50 | Open on mastodon.design
Alexander Dyas

@chriswho

Advertising is the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket. - George Orwell

28 April at 20:03 | Open on mindly.social
JamesK
DELETED
Karl Auerbach

@chriswho People (especially people who own trademarks) tend to forget that the express purpose of trademark law (it's written into the words of the US trademark law itself) that trademarks are to benefit the consumer by making it easier for a consumer to clearly identify the source and identity of a product.

Trademarks are not intended to be a boon for the trademark owner, rather trademarks are there for the protection of consumers.

28 April at 21:41 | Open on sfba.social
MadeInDex
Violet Rose

@karlauerbach
That brings to mind the concept of trademark dilution. How many times do you ask for a cola in a restaurant? Most people say Coke, because it's the most successful brand, but often don't care if they get a Pepsi or a generic cola.

But Coca-Cola cares. They expend a lot of effort protecting their brand. In a restaurant, if they don't have Coke, the server will usually ask "Is Pepsi okay?" This serves the double purpose of protecting Coke's sales by making sure customers actually get a Coke when they ask for one and protecting the consumer's choice because restaurants can't get away with selling generic cola and calling it Coke. (Some probably do, but they risk legal action for misrepresenting their product.)

@chriswho

@karlauerbach
That brings to mind the concept of trademark dilution. How many times do you ask for a cola in a restaurant? Most people say Coke, because it's the most successful brand, but often don't care if they get a Pepsi or a generic cola.

But Coca-Cola cares. They expend a lot of effort protecting their brand. In a restaurant, if they don't have Coke, the server will usually ask "Is Pepsi okay?" This serves the double purpose of protecting Coke's sales by making sure customers actually get...

29 April at 14:36 | Open on lgbtqia.space
Karl Auerbach

@violet @chriswho The trademark dilution argument was used to try to drive ICANN to grant prodigious powers to trademark holders to suppress or usurp domain names that the TM holder felt was tarnishing their "precious" mark.

One of the most aggressive of these was the right-wing guy who owned Overstuck who tried to assert ownership, via tarneshment, over pretty much every thing on the internet that used a circular shaped character.

29 April at 16:14 | Open on sfba.social
Violet Rose

@karlauerbach
One of the most insidious examples was Uzi Nissan vs. Nissan Motor Corporation. Uzi Nissan owned nissan dot com, under which he operated several private businesses. It was obviously a legitimate use of the domain. When Nissan Motors decided to join the web, they found that "their" domain was already taken, so they politely asked him to sell it to them.

Just kidding. They started throwing lawyers at him, suing him for cybersquatting and trademark infringement (even though Uzi did not use any of their registered trademarks). They kept appealing and launching new suits, and Uzi Nissan kept fighting them. Sadly, the corporation eventually won when Uzi Nissan passed away.

@chriswho

@karlauerbach
One of the most insidious examples was Uzi Nissan vs. Nissan Motor Corporation. Uzi Nissan owned nissan dot com, under which he operated several private businesses. It was obviously a legitimate use of the domain. When Nissan Motors decided to join the web, they found that "their" domain was already taken, so they politely asked him to sell it to them.

29 April at 16:44 | Open on lgbtqia.space
Karl Auerbach

@violet @chriswho I am personally aware of these kinds of situations, not only because of my involvement with ICANN but also because our company (and myself) have had (and still have) nice three letter domain names in .com and .org (sometimes with pairs in each of those TLDs.)

(We've sold some, given some away [we didn't realize their marke value at the time], and been threatened. Fortunately we have had these since before the dawn of the world wide web, so we can play a pretty big "we were there first" trump card.)

I believe domain names are slowly fading as good trademark properties, but I doubt that it will ever go away.

I wrote this in 2017...

Domain Names Are Fading From User View

cavebear.com/cavebear-blog/fad

@violet @chriswho I am personally aware of these kinds of situations, not only because of my involvement with ICANN but also because our company (and myself) have had (and still have) nice three letter domain names in .com and .org (sometimes with pairs in each of those TLDs.)

(We've sold some, given some away [we didn't realize their marke value at the time], and been threatened. Fortunately we have had these since before the dawn of the world wide web, so we can play a pretty big "we were there...

29 April at 16:59 | Open on sfba.social
Ghost of Enrico Palazzo 🎃

@chriswho

There was a smaller billboard for a real estate agent that I would walk past on the way to work.

Big cheesy smiling face of the agent took up a big chunk of the space.

Then one day someone put large googly eyes on it. It was stupid, and juvenile and I absolutely loved it.
It stayed that was for several days before the billboard company removed them. That lasted a few days and the googly eyes came back.

It went on like this until the agent relented and had the sign replaced with one without a headshot. Which was kind of a bummer.

Certainly nowhere near Banksy's talent, but I was cheering for Googly Eye all the same.

@chriswho

There was a smaller billboard for a real estate agent that I would walk past on the way to work.

Big cheesy smiling face of the agent took up a big chunk of the space.

Then one day someone put large googly eyes on it. It was stupid, and juvenile and I absolutely loved it.
It stayed that was for several days before the billboard company removed them. That lasted a few days and the googly eyes came back.

28 April at 22:56 | Open on beige.party
SamuelJohnson

@Sir_Osis_of_Liver @chriswho I used to pass a travel agent's office on my way to work. The window had some posters for sunny destinations, one of which featured a couple supposedly catching a fish on a fine sandy Mediterranean beach. One day I realized that the line hanging from the rod was hanging straight down and flatfish on the end was certainly 100% dead. Ergo the whole thing was staged and completely fake. Amused me every time I passed.

29 April at 8:12 | Open on mstdn.social
King Kaufman

@Sir_Osis_of_Liver @chriswho

If I was the real estate agent I'd have replaced the sign with one where I had googly eyes. Plus some relatable, funny, I can laugh at myself text.

29 April at 14:51 | Open on sfba.social
King Kaufman

@Sir_Osis_of_Liver @chriswho

This is not why I don't work in advertising — I hate advertising about as much as Banksy does — but if I wanted to work in advertising, this would be why that wouldn't work out.

29 April at 14:52 | Open on sfba.social
Snowshadow

@Sir_Osis_of_Liver Yaaay for googly eyes. I approve! (is it obvious I dislike real estate agents? lol)@chriswho

29 April at 22:01 | Open on mastodon.social
Richard Webb

@Sir_Osis_of_Liver @chriswho

Only a fool underestimates the awesome power of googley eyes.

(The barstewards even attacked this post - changing the eyes to the property of a once non-evil IT company. Sneaky autocorrect)

20 June at 8:47 | Open on mastodon.scot
yunchtime

@chriswho

subvertising and agit-prop are the only solution to the dialed in advertising nightmare we live in.

28 April at 23:37 | Open on wandering.shop
SamuelJohnson

@yunchtime @chriswho Regulation is vital. Only 2 countries allow direct marketing of drugs to the population (US and NZ). The rest regulate, for good reasons. We need to extend the regulation:

eff.org/wp/behind-the-one-way-

Most people have no clue how their data is collected and used.

29 April at 8:18 | Open on mstdn.social
yunchtime

@samueljohnson @chriswho

before Reagan it was illegal to push pharmaceuticals in direct advertising. Except for Biden pushing back on some drug prices I've seen almost no action to reverse this mess. as for us -- the working stiffs -- what are the options? call my senator? that has worked zero times so far for me in the last forty years... agit prop is good, though. anybody can get into it! and the ideas are multipliers. I'm all for regulation... and the EFF.

30 April at 2:32 | Open on wandering.shop
Mx Amber Alex

@samueljohnson @yunchtime @chriswho not true. There's tons of advertisements on the TV and radio for drugs (congestion, cold, painkillers, etc) in Germany.

22 May at 9:44 | Open on eldritch.cafe
Cai
René M. Grabow

@chriswho

/full agree
from my pov
copyright is braindamage

29 April at 8:17 | Open on troet.cafe
Polly
unlucio 🌍 :mastodon:

@chriswho we need the right to NOT be the target of marketing and advertising.

29 April at 9:45 | Open on mastodon.social
MadeInDex

@unlucio @chriswho

Let's do what Banksy does, destroy it by changing it ;)

29 April at 12:04 | Open on mastodon.social
Laurent Bercot

@charles au cas où tu ne connaîtrais pas ⬆️

29 April at 11:37 | Open on social.treehouse.systems
Ghostsigns (Sam Roberts)
MadeInDex

@chriswho
Taking from some of the evil international corporations and using their work against them,

creating something for the inspiration and amusement of the little man:

Banksy is as close as we can get to a modern day Robin Hood! 🏹 🥬

More here: mastodon.social/@madeindex/112

29 April at 12:02 | Open on mastodon.social
greeeen :nb_verified::verifiedbi::verifiedlesbian:

@chriswho@mstdn.social wow, this text is apparently 20 years old ​:neocat_o_o:​

29 April at 13:27 | Open on transfem.social
nsfw :donor:

@chriswho Def Con last year. Wayne and that cake dude didn't stand a chance.
29 April at 23:55 | Open on infosec.exchange
BlondHimbo
Realtors signs are a handy source of sheet metal for crafting
1 May at 2:31 | Open on pleroma.thisawfuldungeon.art
GlitchyXP

go spraypaint on an ad billboard or smth

1 May at 16:00 | Open on wetdry.world
fops (plushie arc) (Chaotic Stupid)
Stoneface Vimes

@chriswho what I've long thought regarding adverts.

8 May at 9:06 | Open on c.im
Richard Webb

@chriswho Following the lead of China Miéville, I am getting good at unseeing those horrible big screens all over Edinburgh. Breach will not get me.
Hateful things

20 June at 8:45 | Open on mastodon.scot
RobertJackson

@chriswho

Ditto "Sound installation art" in an art gallery.

Go to an art gallery to look at statues and pictures ... you can choose what you gaze at.

Someone puts a set of speakers in there and turns on the sound ... you can't turn off your ears!

Sound installation art imposes its presence over all other art nearby.

It's nigh on Fascist.

13 July at 9:24 | Open on masto.ai
Brother Soul

@chriswho this all day, every day.

#banksy

Brother

13 July at 10:13 | Open on mstdn.social
myrmepropagandist

@chriswho

I had no idea he had the same religion as me!

(My religion says I cannot look at ads from people I do not know. )

13 July at 11:55 | Open on sauropods.win
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