2000AD, burger king, jolly green giant, judge dredd, mcdonalds, mr. peanut, planters...

Fast Food is Bad for Comics, Says Judge Dredd

Britain's 2000AD is known for cutting its scifi with satire, but occasionally even the Galaxy's Greatest Comic can go too far. Such was the case with four episodes of Judge Dredd in 1978, which set out to prove just how dangerous fast food could be, and ended up demonstrating that it's not a good idea to mess with copyrights of international corporations if you're looking to avoid lawyers writing nasty letters. Who knew that Ronald McDonald could be so disagreeable?

The four episodes - part of the popular "Cursed Earth" storyline, and the only chapters of that story to have never been reprinted, under threat of legal action - were two separate two-parters, each focusing on somewhat familiar characters. In the first, Dredd got caught up in a war between McDonalds and Burger King that included riots, lynch-mobs and Ronald himself slaughtering unproductive staff, whereas the second included an Island of Dr. Moreau-style mad scientist surrounded by mutant versions of the Jolly Green Giant, Mr. Peanut and other corporate icons.

As soon as the lawyers got involved, 2000AD's publishers quickly promised never to reprint the offending strips again, and even went so far as to create a special half-page strip letting the world know that, hey, the real Jolly Green Giant? A stand up kinda guy. Luckily, the event of the internet meant that some of these lost strips can still be viewed by a highly impressionable public, eager for disillusionment. Now, how long before cease and desist emails start to go out...?

Judge Dredd - Banned In Britain?

4:00 PM on Tue Jan 29 2008
By grae
1,059 views
12 comments

Comments

CapnCalamity at 05:12 PM on 01/29/08
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"Who knew that Ronald McDonald could be so disagreeable?"

Ever seen McLibel?

He's downright testy.
cde at 05:26 PM on 01/29/08
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OH come on. Linking to geocities? That's bandwidth-ban-hammer guaranteed
cde at 05:27 PM on 01/29/08
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@capncalamity: Actually, I would think it falls under parody-fair-use.
Counterglow at 06:16 PM on 01/29/08
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McDonald's has a well-established record for scumbaggery in the UK. They brought suit against a tiny, very high-end restaurant in Scotland called McDonald's. It had absolutely nothing to do with fast food, and in no way endangered the chain's control of their trademark. Even when this was pointed out to them, they refused all attempts at accommodation.

The suit did, however, disappear very quickly when it turned out they'd have to use a Scottish court. The restaurant owner was "The" McDonald...head of the McDonald clan, and the restaurant was in his castle. Realizing they'd stepped right into the middle of a public relations nightmare, they took their stupid effing clown and went home.

By the way...I always hated clowns.
barnesm at 06:37 PM on 01/29/08
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"by the way...I always hated clowns..."

for that matter who doesn't,

and who was it that had the brilliant marketing plan to make your corporate icon a 'Clown'.
Evil Tortie's Mom at 06:43 PM on 01/29/08
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@Counterglow: I remember that... The MacDonald (note spelling) pointed out that his family had been using the name for hundreds of years, and speculated that he should perhaps be suing them.
7Zark7 Iz In Ur Internetz at 02:09 AM on 01/30/08
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This was published not knowing the fearsome power of Dave Thomas, whose TripleBot8000... ah fergit it, I'm just trolling for responses.

Mmm... what happened to Wendy's in SF (And by SF, I mean San Francisco. Although if William Gibson ever wrote about Wendy's, let me know!!!)
CMG at 05:57 AM on 01/30/08
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@Counterglow: Ditto. Clowns are evil.
NefariousNewt at 06:05 AM on 01/30/08
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Connectedness Index: 695

@CMG: Now, now... not all clowns are evil... but when you get an evil clown... *shudder*
NefariousNewt at 06:08 AM on 01/30/08
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Connectedness Index: 695

The publishers caved too easily... it's parody, and I can't remember a court (at least in the US) saying that you couldn't parody something. It's not like McDonald's is run by Ronald McDonald, and I suspect the Burger King isn't true royalty.

And now the Internet is in play, and both fast food orgs would go bankrupt trying to take on everyone who would reproduce those comics. Copyright is slowly becoming an idea whose time came and went.
Mister Adequate at 07:32 AM on 01/30/08
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@Counterglow: They don't have a choice. Companies/corporations have to zealously protect their trademarks, regardless of how silly it might seem. If they don't do so it massively harms each and every single following attempt to defend their property.
cde at 09:20 PM on 01/30/08
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@NefariousNewt: Well, if the court decides the idea the writer is trying to send is satire (Social commentary that doesn't specifically need those characters) instead of parody (Commentary on those specific characters) then they would indeed be found to be infringing. See the 2LiveCrew song parody case.

@Huxleyhobbes: Different countries different copyright laws.