Devo vs Ronald McDonald
By raincoasterOh, how I love Devo. Those little New Wave robots stole my heart back in the last century and just never gave it back. But, as is the way of robots, they have begun to assert their independence and their indifference to human emotions.
They have come for our toys!
This is New Wave Nigel, one of McDonald’s recent American Idol toys, and according to Devo and their human slaves lawyers, his use of the Power Dome hat and his suspiciously nerdish vocals (yes, he sings) constitutes copyright infringement.
Well, there are several issues here, not even counting the fact that Nigel’s performance is a little stiff. According to the AndyOnTheRoad blog, Devo never trademarked that hat, nor do they have a hegemony on nerdish-sounding vocals; after all, wasn’t that the entire New Wave?
Ah, but Devo says they did:
“This New Wave Nigel doll that they’ve created is just a complete Devo rip-off and the red hat is exactly the red hat that I designed, and it’s copyrighted and trademarked.
“They didn’t ask us anything. Plus, we don’t like McDonald’s, and we don’t like American Idol, so we’re doubly offended…”
[Bassist] Casale said it was ironic the world’s largest fast food chain should appropriate the image of a band known for taking aim at the dysfunction and herd mentality of American society.
“The very same people that wanted nothing to do with Devo and looked down on Devo and condescended (to) Devo… enough time’s gone by that they go, ‘Hey, you know those guys are synonymous with what was new about New Wave,”‘ he said.
Of course they’re not going to let the matter drop; are they not men? They are Devo!
But why settle for 1/25th scale ripoffs? Kit your family out in the real thing:
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July 6th, 2008 at 11:08 am
I kind of hope Devo wins.