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by The Newspup

on Jan 20

Anti-logo movement makes teen rich

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Jimmy Winkelmann’s brand parody has paid off his college fees and angered outdoor brand The North Face.

Winkelmann founded a satirical company named The South Butt, reportedly in response to the ubiquity of The North Face’s fleece jackets at his private prep school.

The North Face served Winkelmann with cease and desist papers, generating large amounts of free publicity for The South Butt. Winkelmann originally offered to sell the company to The North Face for USD$1 million, but has since retracted the offer following the company’s success.

The North Face is now taking Winkelmann to court claiming the logos are similar enough to confuse consumers. The South Butt’s attorney, Albert Watkins says the only similarity between the brands is the word ‘The’ and that the public is intelligent enough to differentiate between a butt and face.

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3 Comments

JT
  • Wrote on 20 Jan, at 05:03PM
Cheeky.
  • Wrote on 22 Jan, at 01:00PM
If North Face paid Jimmy the $1M it would start a successful viral campaign giving The North Face millions of $$$$ in return for publicity wouldn't it?
  • Wrote on 30 Jan, at 08:24PM
That is such a great story, one of those that shows how easy it can be to build a brand, I'm sure he could sell the brand to a competitor for even more. Never underestimate the power of No as a motivation, and no doesn't one brand just look stupid for how their behaving?

There are proven steps to destroy your brands reputation and suing a school kid over a stunt like this going to top that list...
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