Keep Your Skillet Good and Greasy
An enterprising woman in Toronto has hired several female mechanics to join her in her new business.
The shop is called "Ms. Lube."
Of course, the folks who own the better-known Mr. Lube are not amused and they are suing.
If only they had a sense of humour and a little grace and the good sense to know that this can only help their business in the long run.
If only they could keep their oil rags from getting in a knot.
No doubt it will only be a matter of days before some yutz will come along looking for employment and claim discrimination before a human rights tribunal because he is a man looking to get dirty amongst the women mechanics.
Lawyers and tribunals should all be given tickets to comedy shows. They could pass them out to many potential clients with the advice, "Go find your ability to laugh again, you goofball."
5 comments:
David, there are times when corporations go a little far to attack the little guy, but this time this shop is ripping off the brand name of a corporation. Mr. Lube has spent time and money to build a positive image arownd their product and franchise. Along comes Ms. Lube selling the same product as Mr.Lube, they are benifiting from the investment that Mr. Lube has made in developing their brand. And that's not fair.
Please don't try to say the consumer will not be confused and mistake the two. We all know the consumers as a whole are easy to manipulate and quick to jump to misinformation.
This is no different than someone writing the bURner monologue blog, it's a rip off and its wrong.
Yah, Diver, I know.
Mr. Lube has invested in their brand. It's not fair. Boo Hoo. Since when did "fair" enter the world of marketing?
What's not fair is that none of these female mechanics could ever hope to find employment with Senor Lubavich.
As for the BURner monologues, the BRYnner monologues or the BENder monologues, I fall down laughing and I say, "Bring it!"
On the corner of 10th and Sasamat, there are 4 banks 4, count 'em.
This screwball had the balls (ovaries?) to go on CBC's Dragon's Den and present her business to Jim Treliving (who owns Mr. Lube). It was too bad he wouldn't say anything to her (knowing for sure the next call he was making was to his lawyers to get a cease and desist order against her).
All in all, it's a blatant ripoff...and you know she's going to use her gender to stop the "greedy capatalist pigs" from bugging her.
Tut, tut......
Mr. Lube.........
You think the average Canadian is a moron? You think the average Canadian can't figure out that Ms. Lube is not Mr. Lube?
The Mr. Lube folks insult me and I will boycott them in future.
Regarding what Evil Eye said...
The corporate mentality is such that they believe the average Joe and Mary cannot figure out the differences between businesses that have similar names, even if they don't look the same and operate in a different way.
Several years ago McDonald's Corp. sued a fine-dining establishment in Scotland named Macdonalds, even though it had existed long before Ray Kroc started the fast-food chain in the '50s. Apparently they felt customers would confuse the restaurant with the fine linens and silverware on the table, oil paintings on the walls, and highly-trained and experience serving staff with one of their chain outlets featuring arborite tables, linoleum floors, and teenagers working at their first jobs.
For several years a small family-owned business in Winnipeg named "Brick's Fine Furniture" paid a small fortune fighting a legal battle with "The Brick". Customers supposedly would confuse the high-quality furniture in classy showrooms in "Brick's Fine Furniture", with the mediocre stock in cheesy showrooms typical of "The Brick". Like McDonald's above, Brick's Fine Furniture existed before the big box chain.
It is a sad but inevitable fact that these big businesses will jealously guard their trademarks; even if it makes little or no practical sense, and is unfair to much-smaller businesses that were founded before they were. Ms. Lube's situation isn't quite the same - but in practice, I can't see Mr. Lube's business being threatened in any practical way by Ms. Lube.
Craig Y.
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