February 10, 2007

Questions raised by mini warehouse

In 1989 Disney lawyers arranged to have white paint splashed over the "innocent delightfulness" of Disney characters on murals at three day care centers in Florida. They were replaced by Yogi Bear, Fred Flintstone, and Scooby Doo. It would appear this storage facility outside of Kountze, Texas, took the same approach, with minor alterations.

Scobbie Do




Why would they have not named these Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/Hanna-Barbera characters something like "Thom and Gerry"? Makes me wonder about the way they spelled Scooby-Doo (i.e., Scobbie Do). Maybe that was just a f*ck up during the painting of it?

Why would Hannah-Barbera (and in the case of Mini Warehouse, Warner Bros. and MGM) be less litigious than Disney? It couldn't be that they are simply "cooler." Wouldn't they be just as concerned with the bottom line? Also, I don't completely understand why a company like Disney wouldn't see what the day care centers had done as being free publicity. Is the issue that if people see something like the Disney character murals at those day care centers, they won't need to see the characters in actual Disney products?? Are they afraid it cheapens them?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hannah-Barbera (and in the case of Mini Warehouse, Warner Bros. and MGM) probably have not found out about this self storage facility yet!