Welcome to Naomi Klein's worst nightmare.
It's Logorama, six years in the making, the best animated short-film at this year's Academy Awards, and "the Sundance movie no lawyer should see."
The film depicts a world of corporate logos and trade characters in which foul-mouthed Michelin Men do battle with a violent Ronald McDonald, and where the Jolly Green Giant, though still jolly, requires a strategically placed blur to hide his substantial "frivolity."
I downloaded the film for $2 from iTunes on Apple TV, but you can watch it for free via the YouTube embeds here, and get a helpful list of its overloaded product placements from Wikipedia.
Generally speaking, copyright and trademark laws protect logos and intellectual property, but satire and fair use are allowed; trouble is, what constitutes "satire" and "fair use" is up to a judge, so you can never be 100 per cent sure whether you're "just poking fun" or "stealing someone's intellectual property."
But, apparently, it's all good, girlfriend: there has been no lawsuits or even threats of lawsuits, because - let's face it - we already knew that Ronald McDonald is a raging psychopath.
Entertaining! Thanks for the link.
ReplyDeleteThat was amazing.
ReplyDelete