Puma
The Puma thing is pretty funny:
- Someone makes a fake, “sexually suggestive” Puma ad and it shows up on Gawker.
- Readers go nuts, generating tens of thousands of page views on the ads.
- Puma goes nuts, sending a cease-and-desist letter to Gawker.
- felixsalmon.com, another site hosting the ads, tells of its conversation with Puma regarding legal action:
He started out explaining to me that the fake ads constituted trademark infringement, defamation, and possibly libel, and that “definitely legal action is in the works”.
And here are some responses to Puma:
- Nick Denton asks, “Could Puma be any less cool in dealing with the fake blow-job ads that have been circulating?”
First, they’re shocked, shocked, that the pictures are “sexually suggestive”, which suggests they need to take a look at some recent Gucci or YSL creative.
- Gawker’s Open letter to Puma:
It’s the best ad that’s been done for your company in years, and you didn’t design it. Thousands of people are circulating images emblazoned with your brand and you didn’t even pay for product placement. It’s sexy and a bit risque, but your primary competitor just hired a well-known porn star to push their wares, and you look prudish and stuffy in comparison.