
GoldieBlox viral video turns tables on little-girl princess fantasy - creamyhorror
http://www.latimes.com/nation/shareitnow/la-sh-goldieblox-20131121,0,3605772.story
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__pThrow
As well intentioned as GoldieBlox might be, they apparently violated the
wishes of Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys, and possibly his will, which
prohibits the use of his music "artistic property" for advertising purposes
after his death.

[http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/adam-yauchs-will-
proh...](http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/adam-yauchs-will-prohibits-
use-of-his-music-in-ads-20120809)

According to the Hollywood Reporter, [http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-
esq/beastie-boys-girls-...](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/beastie-
boys-girls-viral-video-659308), the Beastie Boys have threatened Goldblox with
copyright infringement, and GoldieBlox has filed a lawsuit asking "declaratory
relief that the video is not a copyright infringement"
([http://www.scribd.com/doc/186402972/Beastie](http://www.scribd.com/doc/186402972/Beastie))

I am certainly not a lawyer, and I enjoyed the video, and it sort of seems
like a fair use parody, except that I am led to understand fair use often
depends on things like if it's for commercial use and how much of the original
material is used. So it could be an interesting legal fight.

It does seem to be disrespectful and a misstep. In contrast, Weird Al Yankovic
famously asks for permission of the targeted artists to parody their songs.

Word is GoldieBlox is now learning the lesson of:

(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Parody)

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GhotiFish
Thanks for the info.

On a personal note, I hope GoldieBlox wins it.

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__pThrow
I am genuinely torn. I would like them to win in terms of copyright theory. I
wish there was someway to come to terms with Adam's will however. Though
presumably an innocent mistake, I do think that's a very big deal (on a karmic
level.)

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jbigelow76

        >Though presumably an innocent mistake
    

Oh come on, no need to be naive. It's not like the Goldieblox people heard the
melody to "Girls" and thought it would work well for their commercial, they
knew the pop-cultural baggage that came with that song and leveraged it for
the marketing angle. That's not a criticism, it was savvy, regardless of how
any lawsuits pan out Goldieblox should could out ahead.

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tssva
The GoldieBlox lyrics complain about stereotypes regarding what girls want.
Specifically they mention buying pink items. Then I go to the GoldieBlox
website and the toys are pink and purple. They feature cute animals including
a dolphin ballerina. Seems a bit hypocritical to me.

~~~
LyndsySimon
That's where I am on the topic. Despite my name, I am indeed a stereotypical
hacker (overweight, beared, white and male). I have two daughters, the eldest
of which loves the Lego set I've passed down to her. Not once has she
complained that there are only a few pink blocks in the box - and come to
think of it, I don't think _I_ complained when I somehow acquired a "girl" set
when I was younger; I just added them to the box. They're blocks, not
genitalia.

My daughter shoots guns, plays with Legos, and competes in a ballet
competitions and pageants. Later today, we're going to make home-made sugar
rockets. Time and weather permitting we'll take my Jeep up in the mountains
this evening and launch a few.

I think what these guys are doing is admirable, but in the end implying that
girls' toys have to be pink and cute is nothing more than a complex version of
"separate but equal".

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brfox
My daughters have this game. They played it twice over the past 6 months ...
they much prefer Legos.

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clarkm
For anyone curious about the Rube Goldberg machine in the video, here's a
behind-the-scenes video with its inventor Brett Doar:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrzCrXRpI4k](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrzCrXRpI4k)

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hexasquid
I want to support this company.

