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Source: ONE News -
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Tui has been running its Yeah Right billboards for several years, but when a Tauranga church imitated the popular beer ad with its own sign DB Breweries called for it to be taken down.
Bethlehem Community Church got a call from DB's lawyer after erecting a sign reading "Atheists have nothing to worry about! Yeah Right".
Tui brand manager Jarrod Bear said on TV ONE's Breakfast programme that although they are flattered by the imitation, consumers expects a consistent message from the Tui brand and the church's billboard does not fit.
"We're just looking to protect that so we can keep bringing smiles."
Bethlehem Community pastor Jim Wallace says they have been putting up the Yeah Right billboards for seven to eight years and the community enjoys them.
"We don't think that it affects or denigrates the Tui brand at all. It hasn't got a "Tui" [logo] on it."
He says it's an in joke and Dominion Breweries needs to get a sense of humour.
But Bear says it's "a bit funny" to accuse the company of lacking a sense of humour when they created the billboards.
"We love Kiwis being involved with the 'yeah right' campaign and they've got the opportunity to go and contribute to it on the Yeah Right Tui website.
He says they won't sue the church if they refuse to take it down and will solve the issue through dialogue.
But Family First NZ is advising the church to continue advertising their billboards despite the legal pressure.
"Family First came under the same pressure from DB when we put up a billboard in March on the Southern motorway in Auckland highlighting the issue of the value of stay-home mums," says national director Bob McCoskrie.
He says the organisation sought legal advice which said they were free to use the words 'yeah right' which were only restricted when advertising beer.
"The legal advice said that the words "yeah right" were already established in NZ slang and that it had not originated with the Tui beer advertisements," McCoskrie says.
And he says the advice was that although the billboard would be recognised by most viewers as having some similarity to the well known Tui beer advertisements, that, of itself, is not sufficient to make the billboard in breach of the Fair Trading Act.
"It is completely ridiculous to believe that the Bethlehem Community Church is deemed a competitor to Tui beer, or that a customer would turn up to an alcohol outlet and ask for Bethlehem Community Church Lite," says McCoskrie.
"Our advice to the church is to ignore the threat made by DB and to continue serving the Bethlehem community with their programmes."
Family First has passed on their legal advice to the church leaders.
What do you think? Is DB right to ask for the billboard to be taken down, or is it an overreaction? Have your say on the messageboard below?
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Add a Comment:
Post new commentnatg said on 2010-05-27 @ 14:37 NZDT: Report abusive post
Jeepers... the Church could have at least ASKED first instead of just taking. It's just not right in my eyes to mimic a campaign that someone probably worked really hard to create originally, without asking permission, and then use it to portray a message that is hateful and could be damaging to the Tui brand if someone overlooked the little 'spirit' logo and thought it was actually a Tui billboard...
troyshaun1234 said on 2010-05-27 @ 11:09 NZDT: Report abusive post
stealing intellectual property is still theft. they have copied the exact design of the Tui billboards and i hope they get stung, would be wonderful if it went through the courts. as Colin said the Christians would be up in arms if they were mentioned by Tui in their billboards, well Tui's a business and if you want to use their property you should have to pay the price.
lauzyeah said on 2010-05-27 @ 09:45 NZDT: Report abusive post
funny that church is using advertising exactly the same minus the tui symbol to promote their church, tsk tsk, wouldnt something more homely, christian, or godly be more appropriate for a church? how about advertising your christian beleifs in church instead of demeaning everyone else who choses not to be a christian/catholic
mouthguard said on 2010-05-27 @ 08:22 NZDT: Report abusive post
It's an attempt at Christian humour I guess. But it just comes across as the same sort of in-group smugness that typifies religion. I heard the vicar/pastor/chosen-one on the radio this morning, and he made a big deal about being bullied by DB. Turn the other cheek my son. After all, you don't want to go to Hell do you? lol.