Posted on 10/17/2006 2:05:29 PM PDT by steve-b
NBC is getting sued by a garbage disposal maker that claims the network's new hit show "Heroes" casts its product in a negative light. You can't make this stuff up.
Apparently, the first episode of "Heroes" shows one of the characters, a cheerleader who is blessed with the power of indestructibility (must come in handy when being at the top of those human pyramids), sticking her hand into a garbage disposal and getting it all mangled. A few seconds later her hand heals.
What's the big deal? The brand name of the machine in question is visible in the scene. It's called the InSinkErator. (Sounds like a bad Schwarzenegger movie. "Hasta la vista, gah-bage. Foooood. I'll be back...to chop you.")
Anyway, Emerson Electric (Charts), the company that makes the InSinkErator, isn't too happy to have its product shown bloodying the hand of a pretty, young cheerleader. So Emerson filed a suit in a U.S. district court in St. Louis against NBC Universal on October 2.
In the lawsuit, Emerson claims that NBC used Emerson's trademark without the company's consent and that the show "implies an incorrect and dangerous design for a food waste disposer."
The company added in its complaint that NBC's depiction of the InSinkErator "casts the disposer in an unsavory light, irreparably tarnishing the product."
Emerson is asking the court to order NBC to remove Emerson trademarks from future broadcasts of the show and also reward Emerson damages suffered as a result of NBC's acts of "unfair competition, trademark infringement, and trademark dilution."...
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
The company president should prove NBC wrong by sticking his head down a garbage disposal.
Quick, name two brands of garbage disposal:
InSinkErater, and ... and ... Kenmore?
Actually, I think they have a legitimate beef (and I'm no fan of frivolous McDonald's-hot-coffee-type lawsuits).
Maybe.
To me, it sounds like the disposal worked properly.
Viking.
I may not agree with the premise of the lawsuit in this case, yet broadcasting such stupid crap as putting ones hand in a disposal is begging for it.
Well, I suppose you do have kind of a point there, except for that pesky safety thing!
The brand name of the machine in question is visible in the scene.
I agree completely. NBC can't show a specific product brand name in that kind of light. I remodel kitchens and always recommend In-Sink-Erator brands because they hold up well, are reasonably priced and easy to change.
Funny you should say that. I've been thinking of getting one. Thanks for the recommendation!
There's an allegorical connection here that just can't be ignored.
LOL!
If another network broadcast a show in which David Duke was portrayed as an NBC newscaster making racially charged remarks on the air, you can bet your @ss NBC would be filing a lawsuit on the same grounds.
I was just in the market for a disposal and I don't think there is another brand.
Oh, well, they should just Xerox the press release and cry in their Kleenex.
Go big. Get the 1HP.
(I have Viking in our main house, but the KitchenAide and Insink are fine.)
The KA and Viking are quiet and do auto-reverse if you clog up.
Man oh man. FR is the best! Where else can you get the dope on politics and kitchen appliances?!
There's a Saudi Arabia joke in there, but I won't do it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.