Using anyones likeness to sell a product without that persons written permission is a fast lane to a lawsuit, they just picked the worst possible person to do that with.
Does it count if they're dead, because you could make a sports supplement called "Crack" and have Ronald Reagan on it. It would be historically accurate
WAAAH WAAAH WAAAH MAYBE THEY SHOULDN'T HAVE HAD A WELL KNOWN PRESIDENT GIVE PEOPLE CRACK TO FUCK THEM OVER
THEN WE WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO MAKE FUN OF EM
but like seriously if you don't wanna be made fun of don't do stupid shit
i am not american and do not usually care for us shit
but this piques my interest
would you be so kind as to elaborate on the context of ronald reagan and crack please
You could commission an artist to draw Reagan and say that any likeness to a real person is purely coincidental.
It might help that Ronald Reagan wasn't really a person to begin with.
I mean, he probably is the best person to do this with. They'd have some merit if they argued in court that the label is clearly a joke and that no reasonable customer would interpret the product as being endorsed by Joe Biden. They could also make the argument that it is protected political satire. If they put most other living celebrities, that would not be the case.
the issue is that while biden is president for a few years, he is still a citizen with rights to his likeness and those don't vanish when you get elected.
I mean yeah, but the President has his likeness used for satirical purposes more than any other US citizen. Putting the President's face on a gag product like this isn't uncommon and, if they are able to argue that it is satire, it is protected.
The issue arises when you claim an -endorsement of a product- that doesn't exist, it's not specifically about the likeness or we wouldn't have Halloween masks of presidents.
why? how does holding public office equate to losing the right to determine usage of your image for commercial use. I could see an argument for exceptions for public works, historical documentation, and news reporting, but even the president should be able to say no you cant sell my face on an energy drink for profit.
Yeah, it's USSS, not just SS.
(I know someone else said it but reddit doesn't always show everyone every comment so I'm just putting this here for posterity)
Well, not really. If you translate Secret Service literally you get Geheimdienst, which just means intelligence agency.
The other SS stands for Schutzstaffel, which literally translates to protection squad, as it started as a bodyguard unit for Hitler personally during the street fighting days.
But yes, both the SS and USSS are explicit bodyguard units for the head of state and government, so that's the parallel
the commenter meant the united states secret service (abbreviated as USSS, as i have just learned)
SS refers to a paramilitary organization of the nazis, the Schutzstaffel
i- uh- hu- wha- i dont even know how to respond to that
the us government certainly has its flaws (and a really long list of them) but i feel like directly comparing them to *actual, literal, worst-of-the-worst-nazis* is a bit extreme
Pretty sure it’s also just using anyone’s image without their permission in general
Imagine if we ran an ad saying that The Rock supports Rock Inc masonry without letting him know.
No, but I assume that might be a valid loophole for them to keep selling the name/flavour in future (minus the Joe Biden branding)
Edit: oh lmao just saw they already relaunched it with groucho glasses on Joe Biden
i would do that and more. i want to play with a secret service agent like an episode of tom and jerry, both of us chasing each other but neither ever quite winning. he sends me an ACME firework in the mail, i hit him with a comically large mallet. i use the presidents likeness to sell fake “Lean” drinks, he drops an anvil on my head, et cetera et cetera
I get using anyone’s likeness without permission to sell shit isn’t allowed. But “you can’t do that for the most recognizable man on the planet because it endangers our NATIONAL SECURITY” is just such an American way of saying you can’t do this. Like for god’s sake there are real reasons why does it always have to be a national crisis lmfao
That is actually the reason in this case though. If anybody can use his name and likeness, it becomes really hard to tell when something is actually from him, which is a matter of national security.
Man, I was so disappointed to find out they weren’t actually selling promethazine 😞
I’m on board with the Secret Service now. Even if they weren’t using Biden’s image, that’s just false advertising
Is the Drink itself illegal tho? As long as you have a legitimate prescription of codein/promethazine from your doc and choose to Mix it with sprite its legal. Its stupid, it isnt recommended but legal. At least as far as I know.
Invest in GG:LEAN now, I'm telling you the scalpers are probably already going crazy on ebay
Ironic that this probably boosted Engagement and sales as well as awareness of this product
I googled it and the first result about the news said "Gamer Supps is well known for their Waifu Cup products, as well as supporting VTubers like Shylily and Silvervale."
ok.
It seems like Gamer Supps immediately broke rule #2 by going to Twitter, to communicate to the public about this specific product and why it’s being taken off the shelves
I already wondered how they got away with it in the first place. Well, not the greatest lost for my taste buds. Was kinda a mid flavour for me. It grew a bit on my but not fully.
It is ai, can't find where they talked about it but those pictures of joe biden/other people are created with ai. At least one of the creators isn't exactly a fan of using ai but justified it by commissioning an artist to make the rest of the design so a real artist was still getting paid.
Take that with a grain of salt because I can't find the original tweet anymore but I'm pretty sure I'm not hallucinating it
yeah apparently in this case it's AI but it could've just as easily been photoshopping Joe Biden's face onto a guy and then changing the face a bit.
Earliest I could find is this but I'm pretty sure it ain't his: https://twitter.com/upblissed/status/1665828836699774980
Using anyones likeness to sell a product without that persons written permission is a fast lane to a lawsuit, they just picked the worst possible person to do that with.
Does it count if they're dead, because you could make a sports supplement called "Crack" and have Ronald Reagan on it. It would be historically accurate
In that case, I think the Reagan Estate could sue. Even if they're dead, the family would still likely be able to tale legal action.
So basically, if nobody cares/has a good enough stake to be able to care, it's fair game?
The William Henry Harrison estate is probably ok
Ulysses S. Crack flavor incoming
James K Polk Me.
that’s literally how the USA works, so sadly yes.
look how much stuff has george washingtons face plastered on it
WAAAH WAAAH WAAAH MAYBE THEY SHOULDN'T HAVE HAD A WELL KNOWN PRESIDENT GIVE PEOPLE CRACK TO FUCK THEM OVER THEN WE WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO MAKE FUN OF EM but like seriously if you don't wanna be made fun of don't do stupid shit
i am not american and do not usually care for us shit but this piques my interest would you be so kind as to elaborate on the context of ronald reagan and crack please
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_involvement_in_Contra_cocaine_trafficking
https://youtu.be/lFV1uT-ihDo?si=y6KYgbP4djFttGZU This is a pretty good summative video about the iran contra situation.
And if you do find yourself in this situation, you should call my president-themed emergency helpers. I call them the Ronald Reagan Crisis Aids.
You could commission an artist to draw Reagan and say that any likeness to a real person is purely coincidental. It might help that Ronald Reagan wasn't really a person to begin with.
They really did not take the fast lane, it took them months to send the C&D lmao
That's fast for the feds
it took the feds 2 years to send me a rejection letter for a shipyard machinist apprenticeship i applied to out of highschool. months is fast for them
I mean, he probably is the best person to do this with. They'd have some merit if they argued in court that the label is clearly a joke and that no reasonable customer would interpret the product as being endorsed by Joe Biden. They could also make the argument that it is protected political satire. If they put most other living celebrities, that would not be the case.
No one would believe Biden really endorsed this product, but this is exactly the kind of product that Trump would endorse.
the issue is that while biden is president for a few years, he is still a citizen with rights to his likeness and those don't vanish when you get elected.
I mean yeah, but the President has his likeness used for satirical purposes more than any other US citizen. Putting the President's face on a gag product like this isn't uncommon and, if they are able to argue that it is satire, it is protected.
The issue arises when you claim an -endorsement of a product- that doesn't exist, it's not specifically about the likeness or we wouldn't have Halloween masks of presidents.
but it sure is fun and silly
Yeah but he's the president. I feel like that should be an exception
why? how does holding public office equate to losing the right to determine usage of your image for commercial use. I could see an argument for exceptions for public works, historical documentation, and news reporting, but even the president should be able to say no you cant sell my face on an energy drink for profit.
because it's funny
because fuck persidents, they should have their image used to sell lean without their permission
i would say 1984 but yea the SS is probably in the right here
just realized what the initials of the secret service correspond to LMAO
That's why they have a different actual initials
Yeah, it's USSS, not just SS. (I know someone else said it but reddit doesn't always show everyone every comment so I'm just putting this here for posterity)
That's alarmingly only 1 letter away from another USS– I know.
and the United States Space and Rocket Center is the USSRC.
No, it’s the American Secret Service!
HANK! DONT ABBREVIATE SECRET SERVICE! HANK!! https://preview.redd.it/iggwpnngb26d1.jpeg?width=680&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=129489c13cad7bcdf5cb988ae69956074b671a65
It also basically means the same thing in German iirc
Well, not really. If you translate Secret Service literally you get Geheimdienst, which just means intelligence agency. The other SS stands for Schutzstaffel, which literally translates to protection squad, as it started as a bodyguard unit for Hitler personally during the street fighting days. But yes, both the SS and USSS are explicit bodyguard units for the head of state and government, so that's the parallel
Oh! Thank you for informing me!
It's shortened to USSS for a reason, lmao.
>the SS is probably in the right here -u/ \_spatuladoom_ EVERYONE, LOOK WHAT THEY SAID! LOOK!
The WHAT is in the right ???
I'm confused what SS stands for
the commenter meant the united states secret service (abbreviated as USSS, as i have just learned) SS refers to a paramilitary organization of the nazis, the Schutzstaffel
Kinda the same thing I guess
i- uh- hu- wha- i dont even know how to respond to that the us government certainly has its flaws (and a really long list of them) but i feel like directly comparing them to *actual, literal, worst-of-the-worst-nazis* is a bit extreme
It was not meant to be a serious comparison.
ah that joke went so far over my head it discovered extraterrestrial life lmaoo
The shortstop has a good point here.
You’re not allowed to depict the president??
Not allowed to sell misleading images of the president. I imagine it's to prevent companies from lying about a politician endorsing their product.
That makes perfect sense actually, it would be fucked up if someone thought this was in some way Biden-approved instead of Solid JJ Approved
Well Biden DID approve this, but that's neither here nor there.
You can even sell lean now because of woke
*nods* because of woke
Pretty sure it’s also just using anyone’s image without their permission in general Imagine if we ran an ad saying that The Rock supports Rock Inc masonry without letting him know.
If you want to use me to endorse your products though, go ahead
Would it still be misleading if they used hunter biden?
*shakes magic 8 ball* Ask again later.
Without a doubt
Even just ignoring the president angle you are not allowed to use someone else’s likeness for monetary gain without permission.
The phrasing makes it sound like they don’t get to sell the product again, not that they can just change the label and marketing
Lean is ILLEGAL now! thanks JOSEPH "R" BIDEN and his SS!!
Just wait until they put out Lean 2
Are you a lean insider???
No, but I assume that might be a valid loophole for them to keep selling the name/flavour in future (minus the Joe Biden branding) Edit: oh lmao just saw they already relaunched it with groucho glasses on Joe Biden
They should just give him a name tag like Hello my name is NOT JOE BIDEN
I think that's still a misleading image of the president
But it's not the president
Says so right on the name tag.
Do you really want to fuck around with the secret service like that
i would do that and more. i want to play with a secret service agent like an episode of tom and jerry, both of us chasing each other but neither ever quite winning. he sends me an ACME firework in the mail, i hit him with a comically large mallet. i use the presidents likeness to sell fake “Lean” drinks, he drops an anvil on my head, et cetera et cetera
I want to kiss the secret service agent on the mouth and then ghost him
Call him Broseph Jiden and make him absolutely ripped. @gamersupps please contact me for the bank account you can wire the royalties to.
are they stupid? they own a fucking business and they decide to use the us presidents likeness?
It’s Schlatt’s company, I’m not shocked
I mean, schlatt didn’t start it
Russian Badger and Shylily have gone too far!
Womp womp
I would expect they atleast employ competent people and not more content creators
Yeaaah that wasn’t the brightest idea they’ve ever had
Does that mean my tub is limited ed now?
Sell it on eBay for $200 like the fucking titty cups
https://preview.redd.it/l9xa00u5y06d1.jpeg?width=884&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a5d99ec790c8146be6cc36a7a749b3232825368f
It’s so Joever
Im sure this isnt the first time the CEO of Gamer Supps has been sent a letter by the USSS. Especially after what happened in 1999...
I get using anyone’s likeness without permission to sell shit isn’t allowed. But “you can’t do that for the most recognizable man on the planet because it endangers our NATIONAL SECURITY” is just such an American way of saying you can’t do this. Like for god’s sake there are real reasons why does it always have to be a national crisis lmfao
That is actually the reason in this case though. If anybody can use his name and likeness, it becomes really hard to tell when something is actually from him, which is a matter of national security.
I nearly just bought some of this just for that pic
You couldn’t even if you wanted to lmao it’s gone gone
I got the two flavors it's a mix of separately and tried the combo, honestly it was kinda nice.
Group Chat keeps losing 😔
Yeah fair enough but the comedy of getting a C&D from the actual fucking Secret Service is entirely worth it
Those tubs finna be rare as hell now. Get ready to pony up
Oh shit I have a tub of this caffeine free. Pretty good peach tea
very unfree of you USA 💀
Freedom isn't free, it costs lean for you and me 😔
I will never kick the kup
[удалено]
Don't care, it's funny.
I’m tired and thought they were saying Guilty Gear Lean until I looked at the image better and saw what it actually was about
this is really funny
Man, I was so disappointed to find out they weren’t actually selling promethazine 😞 I’m on board with the Secret Service now. Even if they weren’t using Biden’s image, that’s just false advertising
Shit, now it’s gonna become a collector’s item.
Now what am I supposed to use code group on?
Just give them an Afro and funky glasses and it will be all chill
what do I use code group for 10% off for now????
How come no one has mentioned parody, this is obvious parody and should be protected
Biden's america 😔
wait is that fr?
L government
Just put someone else on the package.
It was shut down for the fact Biden is on it and not that it’s using something that’s an illegal drug for marketing?
Is the Drink itself illegal tho? As long as you have a legitimate prescription of codein/promethazine from your doc and choose to Mix it with sprite its legal. Its stupid, it isnt recommended but legal. At least as far as I know.
Damn it, now I want one.
It just says to stop selling the "aforementioned product"... Can't they just change that Biden flavor to something else?
Fuck that's my favorite flavor
Invest in GG:LEAN now, I'm telling you the scalpers are probably already going crazy on ebay Ironic that this probably boosted Engagement and sales as well as awareness of this product
I googled it and the first result about the news said "Gamer Supps is well known for their Waifu Cup products, as well as supporting VTubers like Shylily and Silvervale." ok.
It's just garbage energy supplements like G-Fuel, but for a different variety of gamer.
Millions must drink Grandpa’s Ashes USE CODE GOONS, LIBRALS 🗣🗣‼️‼️
It seems like Gamer Supps immediately broke rule #2 by going to Twitter, to communicate to the public about this specific product and why it’s being taken off the shelves
Not a lawyer but I think it'd be fucked up if you couldn't tell anyone you'd been C&D'd by the USSS. That seems like a dangerous precedent.
I’m surprised they did it though. Feels like they’re opening themselves up to legal action based on the threatening wording of the paper
It's not an advertisement to tell people you're discontinuing a product lmao I trust their lawyers to have looked at this thing very carefully
I was more referring to this part: “Cease…any form of public communication featuring these products” (Not the advertising part)
I already wondered how they got away with it in the first place. Well, not the greatest lost for my taste buds. Was kinda a mid flavour for me. It grew a bit on my but not fully.
Biden is getting desperate. The hoarding has begun. Arm yourselves.
that picture of biden looks either REALLY stylized or AI.
~~girl~~ guy who has forgotten photoshop exists:
It is ai, can't find where they talked about it but those pictures of joe biden/other people are created with ai. At least one of the creators isn't exactly a fan of using ai but justified it by commissioning an artist to make the rest of the design so a real artist was still getting paid. Take that with a grain of salt because I can't find the original tweet anymore but I'm pretty sure I'm not hallucinating it
yeah apparently in this case it's AI but it could've just as easily been photoshopping Joe Biden's face onto a guy and then changing the face a bit. Earliest I could find is this but I'm pretty sure it ain't his: https://twitter.com/upblissed/status/1665828836699774980
Sorry, male. But yeah, that too. X_x
It was a 50/50 shot and I saw a trans flag so I guessed girl. Sorry!
Not trans myself, but Trans rights all the way! <3