Absorbing all the television commercials in between football action on the field can be as much fun on Super Bowl Sunday as the actual game itself, at least for trademark and marketing types, especially when your favorite team isn’t even on the field.
One of my personal favorites from this past weekend’s Super Bowl XLVI was the above “Chevy” Apocalypse advertisement, and not because it reminded me about GM’s Chevy trademark dodging the fatal lyrics: “This Will Be The Day That I Die”.
Instead, what caught my attention — beyond the controversy surrounding how Chevy called out Ford by name — were the other unrelated food brand references (Twinkies and Big Boy), leaving me wondering whether GM obtained advance permission for the use of these marks and/or whether GM might have shared the cost of the spot with these brands appearing as possible paid placements.
No need to wonder whether GM obtained advance permission from Ford, obviously it didn’t, and we’ll see whether a false advertising lawsuit results from it.
But, back to the third party food brands, could it be that the Twinkies appearance in the Chevy Apocalypse ad served as an additional jab at the perhaps indestructable ingredients of the snack food, recognizing that the bankrupt Hostess brand may not be in the best position to object? And, what about the charred Big Boy restaurant signage?
By all accounts, this must have been an interesting ad to clear — attempting to dodge and/or minimize the risk of potential claims from Ford, Hostess, and the various concurrent owners of the Big Boy mark.
What are your thoughts about these third party brand references? How would you have navigated this one? Permission necessary for some or all? Nominative fair use for some or all?