Today Fellowship Church posted on their website marquee the promo for the new "Cool Aid" series by Ed Young starting next week.The "Cool Aid" graphic is different from the "Kool Aid" graphic shown to the audiences at the church performances this past weekend. The top picture at left shows Fellowship Church using Kraft Foods' brand image of Mr. Kool Aid, with "Gay Marriage" plastered on it.
If Fellowship Church has not obtained prior approval from Kraft Foods for use of their logo, it is quite hypocritical to use EITHER of these images, considering Fellowship filed a copyright infringement claim against me in 2010 to take down two videos I had posted on Vimeo lawfully under the Fair Use Doctrine of the U.S. copyright laws. Fellowship lawyers claimed:
"The availability of
this video [Watchdog's use of a small portion of an Ed Young sermon video] obtained without the knowledge or consent of the Church for
free on your site greatly infringes upon the Church's ability to
market this work"
My lawyer and I contested their video takedown, and we prevailed in early 2011 to have the videos reinstated by Vimeo here and here.
And this is not the first time Fellowship Church has used other corporations' brand logos before. As I pointed out here, Fellowship Church used the brand logo of Gatorade, changing it to Haterade, and they also used the "Twilight" logo to promote another sermon series.
Maybe Kraft Foods will contact Ed Young and Fellowship Church and ask them politely to stop using their Kool Aid brand name and logo.
Another example of the zaniness these days in the modern evangelical mega church.
Their revised logo sure looks like Kool-Aid logo. There's no confusion of which brand they are talking about. Ed Young doesn't just use this in a sermon, but there's a ton of downstream revenue generated by the sale of DVDs and other tie-ins.
ReplyDeleteI think the creativity has left FC- probably Ed Young. 10 years ago they weren't ripping brands off as much as they do today. They were original, not copiers. Now it is mostly Ed Young contrived rip-offs of popular culture.
They have changed the "K" to "C". That disguises the brand somewhat. However, that may not be enough.In order to be completely safe they may need to change the "C" to "F". Ed would have his congregation believe that he is AIDing them in being COOL. When,in reality, he is AIDing them in being FOOLED.
ReplyDeleteTom,
ReplyDelete"...shown to the audiences at the church performances this past weekend."
You are right to call Ed's church shows "performances". They're certainly not worship services.
Ed and his team do this all the time...look at this list of sermons from the past few years, all in an attempt to be more 'relevant':
ReplyDeleteCRIBS
Fatal Distractions
Juicy Fruit
Leaving Lust Vegas
Shark Weak
The Perfect Storm
Trading Spaces
And almost every time, the logo/mark/design for the series looked 'very close' to the commercial origin. The best series he ever preached was when he simply preached through the book of James over a 4-5 week period. He can preach, but the rest of this is simply smoke and mirrors. That and his insistent, paranoid requirement of single authority is why we finally left.
Cool-Aid. Trust me, he is not that cool.
Let the dumb sheeple continue to support this clown and his show. If they cant't figure out what this guy is all about by now then I don't feel sorry for any of them.
ReplyDeleteThe discussion of trademark infringement is intriguing, but more importantly, how hypocritical of this bozo to use the Jonestown metaphor as the premise for a sermon series! He and his ilk are the biggest purveyors of "kool-aid" (sorry, "cool-aid") that exist these days! They expect mindless, unquestioning obedience from their followers just like Jim Jones did.
ReplyDeleteI just can't help commenting on the trademark issue, though. One thing my knowledge of trademark law allows me to say with confidence - if the church's use of the Kool-Aid name or logo in that context is indeed an infringing use (and I won't get into what all you have to show for that, but I think it is a question here because I'm not sure they're using it in connection with the marketing or sale of anything), then I can virtually guarantee you that you can't make it OK just by changing the K to a C and depicting a generic-looking pitcher instead of the Kool-Aid man. If they can do this to avoid infringement, then I can also start selling my own powdered drink called "Cool-Aid" with that logo they created, and it would not be infringement. Whoever advised them that they could avoid any trademark problems by revising the logo the way they did is obviously ignorant of trademark law.
"He and his ilk are the biggest purveyors of "kool-aid" (sorry, "cool-aid") that exist these days! They expect mindless, unquestioning obedience from their followers just like Jim Jones did."
ReplyDeleteI agree. I'm assuming Ed must be calling all the politically-correct stuff "Cool-Aid,"-maybe speaking of the resentment that people feel like they must hide their real opinions and stick with what's politically correct. But, I don't know if that's what he's referring to or not.
But you are SO right. In my opinion, churches are NOT places where you can feel free to say your true feelings or opinions either. There are unwritten rules, it seems, which say you need to back your pastor, don't rock the boat, don't be worldly, don't criticize God, etc. So it is "Cool-Aid" on both sides, for sure.
He could have changed it to "Q'Ool Aid," as a sort of nod to the Muslim community.
ReplyDeleteSMG
How can believers call this sideshow church? I just can't understand why they don't see through this kind of nonsense. :(
ReplyDelete1 John 2:9-11
ReplyDelete9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. 10 Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. 11 But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.
I need to register for your blog one of these days, but for now I guess I'll be Anonymous. :)
ReplyDeleteI think the top image is definitely a problem but since the bottom one is only inspired by the corporate one and is not a direct copy (as is the top one), they are probably on safer ground with the bottom one.
Putting all that aside, I think Ed Young is greedy, vain, a big doofus, and a terrible witness.