Restoring the Republican Brand, Literally

Someone has stolen the Republican’s elephant and the Republicans aren’t to happy about it. Cafepress.com has been receiving cease and desist letters in the matter of using the Republican logo on their T-shirts. An unadulterated tilted star version of the GOP elephant. Ben Smith reports:

The t-shirts at issue range across a spectrum. Some simply bear the elephant or “GOP” logo, which the committee has also trademarked. Others are pro-Republican: One shows a large elephant trailed by two smaller elephants and the words, “I’m raising my children right.”

Others attack the GOP, such as a a portrayal of an elephant leading three sheep and the words, “wake up sheeple!”.

The issue puts both sides of the fight in a quandary as the anti-Republican shirts seem to be protected under free speech as a matter of parody, but the pro-Republican serve as a dilution of the Republican brand and misrepresentation.

Leaves the RNC in rough spot, choosing between ignoring a trademark violation or axing pro-Republican merchandise.

Either way the shirts may come to be in short supply soon, so if you’d like one, look here.

For once though I have to say I fall on the Republicans side on this one. Though I normally always move to support free speech, economic opportunism is something else; especially as Cafepress refuses to make slight alterations to the images.

Either way, amusing.

-Marc-