I was entertaining myself last evening by reading over some posts from the past. I find that my outlook has not changed since I wrote this little item three years ago. Nor has the outlook of big business-- unless it has gotten even greedier.According to our Saturday newspaper, a man in Vermont received a letter from Chik-fil-A demanding that he “cease and desist” from using the slogan “Eat more kale.” Motivated to protect his rights, the man patented the phrase and defied the company. Enter the lawyers. The ruling has come down, and mirabile dictu, the man prevailed. He may make all the T-shirts and bumper stickers with the slogan he wishes. Oh, well. As the C-f-A spokeslady said, “Cows eat kale, too.” Which seems to me to be a non sequitur, but what do I know?
Why strange? Because it is virtually unheard of for an individual to go up against a big corporation and win his case. I, many decades after the fact, hold a resentment toward a certain purveyor of fast food, think happy meal, and Ronald. A block north of my father’s residence in a small town not far from here, there was a restaurant called “Mac’s.” Yes, they specialized in hamburgers and fries and such. Comes the Oak Brook megachain to town, building one of its eyesores about three blocks to the west of Mac’s, and jumping with all its feet and force on Mac’s, hauling them into court, claiming that Mac’s was operating in violation of the corporation’s ownership of the world, so to speak. The ugly monstrosity won, and Mac’s has been out of business ever since.
Which is not where I was headed when I started the kale story, but my mind is easily distracted in my old age.
Today's verse: And he said, “Woe to you lawyers also! for you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. --Luke 11:46 (RSV)
5 comments:
While understanding the importance of copyrights and patents, things have gone way too far in our country. Success is not enough for most big organizations, whether or not they claim Christian values, and many companies gain by breaking the backs of the little people. For you see, it is not the companies, but greedy owners and investors thinking, "more for me," who make those decisions. There are many Scriptures that apply here, including the one about where our riches should be stored.
It would be nice to believe that the donations to charities by large corporations will atone for the ways they $!&*# the little people, but I doubt this is the case.
As for CF, when I ate there I thought that surely some employee has spilled an entire box of salt on my oder. Getting a week's worth of sodium in one not-so-great sandwich surely can't be good for one's health. Mine helped to fill the trash can.
Why would a fast food chicken restaurant object to "eat more kale" aside from kale being mostly gross and disgusting...
Vee, years ago I quit eating at a fast fish food joint (LJS) because of the salt issue. In some places it is the case that no salt = no flavor, I guess.
Grace, some time ago we were served a potato dish laden with kale. BBBH commented afterward, " I certainly didn't like that kale-infested potato stuff."
We have a local bakery MacDonald's... begun by the MacDonald family almost a century ago. For some reason, the big monster did not sue them. I always wondered why. They have now sold to a different owner and it's Cops and Donuts, MacDonald's Precinct. I recall when a polo club had to stop using a logo of a horse and polo rider because it was too like the shirt logo, although the club had existed long prior.
Sharkey, ownership of properties tangible and intellectual and the suits accompanying are big business. (All sorts of puns intended.)
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