Pork Board Makes Woman Remove Her Shirt

How’s that for an attention grabbing headline! I came across this story a little while ago and I thought some people in the family would find it interesting. In a nutshell, a young mother started a blog focusing on breastfeeding issues. As part of her blog, she offered for sale some t-shirts with breastfeeding related sayings on them. One of the shirts had the slogan “The Other White Milk” (not exactly laugh-out-loud hilarious, but ok, whatever). Anyway, this shirt caught the attention of the National Pork Board which owns the trademark “The Other White Meat.” They didn’t think it was so funny and they had one of their lawyers (who I’m sure is a great guy, just doing his job, way underpaid, loves his mother, etc., etc.) draft up a cease and desist letter that seemed just a tad too harsh for the circumstances.

The real kicker, and the part that raised this story above just another run-of-the-mill company protecting its trademarks case, was the part in the lawyer’s letter where he claimed that, not only was the woman’s use of the phrase confusingly similar to the Pork Board’s trademark (like people will mistakenly believe that the Pork Board endorses breast milk? Don’t they know that the Pork Board has worked very hard to stay neutral in that whole ugly debate?), but, as he states in the letter, “your use of this slogan also tarnishes the good reputation of National Pork Board’s mark in light of your apparent attempt to promote the use of breastmilk beyond merely for infant consumption.” What!? Even a quick look at this woman’s blog makes it obvious that she’s just a mom that thinks breastfeeding is great. Admittedly, her interest in promoting breastfeeding (she calls herself the “Lactivist”. Get it?) is a bit beyond my own personal level of interest and/or comfort, but I can’t see where they get the “beyond merely for infant consumption” angle.

So, news of this letter made the rounds on the internet. I won’t ruin the ending by telling you how it was resolved. You can click on the link above and read how it all played out. I will say that it involves follow up letters from the CEO of the Pork Board written in a decidely less aggresive tone. I like this story because it highlights one of those ironies of life, where the company’s own attempt at protecting its image is what actually hurts its image the most.

P.S. Some of the other shirts she offers are a bit more clever, in my own opinion. I like “That’s my baby’s lunch you’re staring at”, “Breasts: Not just for selling cars anymore” and “Too lazy to bottlefeed”.