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| Courtesy of Vulture.com |
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| Courtesy of Google.com |
In any fight there is only one winner a loser.
Much like Vin Diesel in the latest Fast and Furious film (Left), The Beastie Boys
emerge through the flames victorious (or so they thought).The battle
between these two fierce competitors was hard fought; a knock-down-drag-out,
round by round fight. However as the dust settles and smoke clears, GoldieBlox
has a few reasons to claim victory themselves. They increased their
net worth, informed millions of their product and drew sympathy from millions
as their case unfolded on the front page. All The Beastie Boys did was unleash their fierce lawyers on to the start-up toy company and hinder their goal of influencing young girls to investigate the wide world of Engineering. Bullies? Anti-Feminists? Call them what you will but one thing is for sure, GoldieBlox DID NOT lose this fight!!
Any sensible person understands the entire goal of an
advertisement is to draw attention to the company it is advertising and increase revenue. When GoldieBlox
aired their commercial in the Super Bowl, it caught the attention of millions. It
especially grabbed the attention of The Beastie Boys and their money hungry
lawyers. According to their website traffic, GoldieBlox has more than
tripled in net worth since the beginning of the conflict with The Beastie Boys(GoldieBlox.com).
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| Courtesy of Freewebsitereport.com |
The lawsuit did more for GoldieBlox than the actual commercial itself did. Maybe the producers had planned for The Beastie Boys to take legal action against them...I mean seriously who creates a parody of a song by a group notorious for parody lawsuits!! After all, there is no such thing as bad publicity, especially if the publicity is free...
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| Courtesy of Huffingtonpost.com |
The average price for a 30 second commercial during the Super Bowl can run upwards of 4.5 million dollars. The game, by many, is labeled as the commercial central. Many people can't even name the teams playing in the game but can identify every single commercial they saw. GoldieBlox, having won the Intuit Commercial Challenge, received their broadcast completely free. Combine this with the free publicity from the court case and GoldieBlox was able to reach millions of people with spending very little in expenses...accounting and advertising geniuses!! GoldieBlox has to feel as if they hit the lottery with that commercial.
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| Courtesy of Twistedsifter.com |
So although The Beastie Boys tried to prevent GoldieBlox from profiting through the use of their parody, GoldieBlox earns the knockout in this fight and here is why:
1. GoldieBlox knowingly created a parody of a song by a group infamous for legal battles over parodies. This was more than likely a trap for The Beastie Boys to sue the start-up company and create more free publicity.
Round One goes to GoldieBlox
2. The Beastie Boys, known as legal bullies, sued GoldieBlox, personified as three harmless little girls. In this image juxtaposition, GoldieBlox gains sympathy and support from many people, which translates to dollar signs.
Round Two goes to GoldieBlox
3. Legally speaking, The Beastie Boys win this battle as the parody is clearly a violation of the fair use clause. With their legal experience, there is no way The Beastie Boys could lose this fight.
Round Three goes to The Beastie Boys.
This fight card clearly favors GoldieBlox. Looks as if The Beastie Boys picked on the wrong girls...
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| Courtesy of Twistedsifter.com |
Sources:
"Ask a Lawyer: Who Has the Better Case, the Beastie Boys or GoldieBlox?" Vulture. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.
Eridon, Cory. "Beastie Boys Have a "Girls" Problem: Goldieblox Video Brings on Copyright Issues." Beastie Boys Have a "Girls" Problem: Goldieblox Video Brings on Copyright Issues. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.
"Goldieblox.com." Estimated Traffic Net Worth $37,337 by Freewebsitereport.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.
Grenoble, Ryan. "Muhammad Ali Dodges 21 Punches, Does A Delightful Victory Dance." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 12 Dec. 2013. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.
In this blog, I could clearly see the rhetorical purpose of attempting to prove that although GoldieBlox faced legal repercussions, they still won the battle against the Beastie Boys. This was proved through the use of logos and pathos. Logos was shown through the factual argument that the Super Bowl commercial and added attention to GoldieBlox was well worth the legal trouble. The chart was a great visualization for this argument as it simplified the logos argument into a single image. Pathos was used by painting the Beastie Boys as bullies who tried to muscle GoldieBlox out of a clever commercial, which ultimately backfired on them anyway. I also enjoyed the “Round by Round” analysis weighing each side’s arguments against each other and proving GoldieBlox’s victory. Overall, the rhetorical purpose was successful, as the author did a good job of proving the success of GoldieBlox, both through the increased popularity and appearance of the victim of the overzealous legal team of the greedy Beastie Boys. The only improvement I would suggest would be to address the legal ramifications and what exactly they entailed. I feel like incorporating the verdict would allow for the reader to see how harsh or little of a punishment GoldieBlox faced for their violations.
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