GoldieBlox learns a lesson in engineering bad PR

What a nice way to wake up this morning. After Goldieblox received a redonk amount of unwanted PR for infringing upon the Beastie Boys and Queen (and Lonely Island, in their now deleted "I'm on a Goat," parody video) the Goldieblox people have taken down the Beasties song and written their own open letter/ non-apology/product description to the Beasties.

Dear Adam and Mike,

We don’t want to fight with you. We love you and we are actually huge fans.

When we made our parody version of your song, ‘Girls’, we did it with the best of intentions. We wanted to take a song we weren’t too proud of, and transform it into a powerful anthem for girls. Over the past week, parents have sent us pictures and videos of their kids singing the new lyrics with pride, building their own Rube Goldberg machines in their living rooms and declaring an interest in engineering. It’s been incredible to watch.

Our hearts sank last week when your lawyers called us with threats that we took very seriously. As a small company, we had no choice but to stand up for ourselves. We did so sincerely hoping we could come to a peaceful settlement with you.

We want you to know that when we posted the video, we were completely unaware that the late, great Adam Yauch had requested in his will that the Beastie Boys songs never be used in advertising. Although we believe our parody video falls under fair use, we would like to respect his wishes and yours.

Since actions speak louder than words, we have already removed the song from our video. In addition, we are ready to stop the lawsuit as long as this means we will no longer be under threat from your legal team.

We don’t want to spend our time fighting legal battles. We want to inspire the next generation. We want to be good role models. And we want to be your friends.

Sincerely,

Debbie + Team GoldieBlox

BWAHAHAHAHAHA. You notice how "We're sorry," wasn't ever uttered.

These people and their shit toys, need to take a time out.

The so-called engineer (who to the best of my knowledge has never actually worked in engineering but only PR/marketing) can't even get off the talking point train in an apology letter. Jiminy Christmas, give the brand attributes a rest already.

You were completely unaware that Adam Yauch didn't want his songs licensed, and as unaware that "Girls" was a satirical song. Guess what? You should have asked for permission either way. Same with Queen, same with Lonely Island, same with any other content creator you plan on ripping off, as it seems that is your entire marketing MO.

And it still doesn't matter that you removed the song from the video. You still did it.

See, this is what Big Data has wrought. The "shut up and dance, and " all your content are belong to us" has become the part of the belief system.

And it can only come from rich white elitists, self-righteous, and secure in the knowledge that they have rationalized infringement six ways till Sunday, and all the while, ripping someone else off for their own material gain. Meet the old boss, same as the new boss.

If there is any justice they will be disqualified from the Intuit competition, but justice is hard to come by these days.

Same with the words "We're sorry."

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The Goldiebloxgate on Adland.
1 Goldieblox : ' Gotta fight, for your right, to infringe' 23 November (Dabitch)
2 Beastie Boys open letter to Goldieblox: YOU sued US (Why?) 25 November (Dabitch)
3 Forget about Beastie Boys. Did GoldieBlox's infringement break Intuit competition rules? 25 November (Kidsleepy)
4 GoldieBlox learns a lesson in engineering bad PR 27. November (Kidsleepy)
5 Goldieblox: erasing the line between "disruptive" and "douchebaggery" 27. November (Dabitch)