21 October 2008
The Onion Satirizes Boy Scouts of America
Posted by admin under: media .
That’s fine. Everybody should be up for a joke at his own expense as long as it isn’t too bad. However, I have to once again object to the use of children dressed in full, official Boy Scouts uniforms performing a sexual skit. I guess the BSA has just given up on enforcing their image. Or maybe suing youthscouts took up the entire legal team.
- Little Britain Uses Cubs in Profanity Laden Show
- Boy Scouts of America©
- Brett Busted Me Up
- Uniform Inspection Sheet
- Pinewood Derby Sans Wood
4 Comments so far...
Fred Goodwin Says:
22 October 2008 at 9:49 am.
As the father of a Life Scout, I was outraged when I saw this.
IANAL so I don’t know what rights BSA has to sue, but if I were them, I’d sure look into it.
admin Says:
22 October 2008 at 1:04 pm.
Fred, the Boy Scouts has a Congressional charter that guarantees them exclusive rights to their symbols, like the uniform, so they have a right to sue. When I sent them notice of other instances where their symbols are being used improperly I never heard back and I never saw any action taking place so it seems like the BSA doesn’t care about this kind of stuff. If you’re a private organization you don’t have to let people use your symbols. It’s only when you’re a politician or goverment agency that I notice you can’t protect those things. BSA is treating itself like a public institution which is confusing since they successfully argued in front of the Supreme Court that they weren’t. I don’t know if they realize how many people these broadcasts are reaching or if they care. In any event, we’ll just continue to support the aims of Boy Scouts and deal with the repurcussions of these sorts of displays.
Frank Says:
23 October 2008 at 12:58 am.
Relax people,
I am an Eagle Scout and plan to have my own son join the Boy Scouts once he’s old enough. I thought the Onion video was hilarious. It’s okay to laugh now and then. What The Onion has done is called SATIRE, and yes, satire is protected under the bill of rights, so no, actually, the Boy Scouts cannot sue The Onion.
admin Says:
23 October 2008 at 10:02 am.
It’s as if someone took a can of coke and said, “Coca-cola. Now with more amphetamines!”
Coke could sue them because of its brand name. Now if someone had used a made-up name, but had a can that was red and kind of had some swooshy lines on it, it would be reminiscent of Coke, but they wouldn’t be able to sue because it wasn’t.
That’s a Boy Scout uniform. It says Boy Scouts of America above the right pocket. It’s not reminiscent. It’s the real thing (to borrow a Coca-cola ad phrase). Onion can satirize the concept of scouting, but can’t use the brand name.
The point about the image is that it devalues what Life Scouts are as they work on their Eagle projects. Okay, that’s fair game for the Onion. It’s just not allowed to use the branding of the BSA.
