Kellogg Company is fiercely protective of its trademarked Toucan Sam character—it has and will go after companies using toucans in their logos—but maybe it should have left alone the toucan in the Maya Archaeology Initiative’s logo.
San Ramon, California-based MAI is a project of the World Free Press Institute, a non-profit committed to defending free expression and challenging repression of cultural heritage issues. In June 2010, WFPI submitted a trademark application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for the initiative’s logo, a side view of a toucan with a Maya temple in the background, both encircled by yellow/green light. It was published for opposition on March 15, 2011.
On July 19, 2011, WFPI received a letter from Kellogg North America Company stating that it had filed a notice of opposition. It essentially asserts that the use of a toucan in the logo infringes on Kellogg’s Toucan Sam character, games and other promotional goods and services.
Kellogg is specifically concerned with the use of the logo on clothing items, like T-shirts and caps, that MAI offers as a gift to donors, according to the letter to WFPI. It not only has an issue with the toucan, but also with the Mayan imagery in the logo, as its Toucan Sam is often depicted in a similar setting, and the “IDigMaya.com” on the MAI items because it calls to mind another Kellogg’s character, the Dig ’Em Frog. “We are concerned about both consumer confusion and a dilution of our strong equity in these marks,” Kellogg Corporate Counsel David Herdman wrote in the letter.
The difference between the two toucans is big—one is cartoonish and the other a realistic representation of the colorful-billed bird that is not only indigenous to Central America but is a common motif in Mayan symbolism—as is the difference between the two organizations—one markets sugary breakfast food to children for profit and the other educates Guatemalan children on Mayan history and culture and works to protect Guatemala’s cultural, historical and natural resources.
“They essentially allege that they own trademark rights to all use of toucans anywhere in the world. The fact is they don’t. They have tried to make that claim previously in federal court.” said Clay Haswell, chairman and co-founder of WFPI. Kellogg has opposed the toucan trademarks of several organizations, including Toucan Golf, which it took to court. In 2003, the U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit, rejected the cereal giant’s claims.
The two are currently in negotiations. Kris Charles, a spokesperson for Kellogg Company, told Indian Country Today Media Network via e-mail on August 26 that it has reached out to the MAI to identify a solution so that it can continue using the logo while still protecting its Toucan Sam. “We’re continuing these conversations and hope to find an approach that will work for both organizations.”
Whether they resolve this peacefully or not, there is no erasing some of the bad press it generated for Kellogg over the last few weeks. Haswell, who worked for the Associated Press for 18 years, serving as managing director for AP’s Asia and Pacific, business, has been keeping count of the coverage. When ICTMN spoke to him, he said the story had been picked up by some 2,000 websites in 60 countries. He also noted a Detroit News poll in which 96 percent of readers voted in favor of MAI using the logo.
Yet it was not just about the toucan. After receiving the letter from Kellogg, Haswell said they went to the Froot Loops’ website to figure out what the company objected to. There they found a game in the Kellogg’s Adventure series, which supposedly puts kids in a Mayan setting, and the only character of color is the villain, an evil witchdoctor who cackles and steals. “Suddenly, it became a little bit more important to us than protecting our trademark,” he said.
Haswell got emotional talking about the atrocities committed against the Mayan people, once one of the Americas’ most sophisticated civilizations, first by the Spanish Conquistadors in the 1500s and then by the Guatemalan government during a decades-long civil war in the 1900s. Haswell said of the Froot Loops game, “It is just so insensitive. You scratch your head and wonder how people can be that dumb.”
Dr. Christina Gish Hill, a professor with the Department of Anthropology and American Indian Studies at Iowa State University, sees the logo issue as very extreme and even laughed a little at the idea of a company owning rights to representations of the toucan. But the Froot Loops witchdoctor game was not at all funny to her. “It is very shocking that a company as prominent and far-reaching as Kellogg would create imagery that is just so blatantly stereotype and certainly offensive,” she said.
Hill sees parallels with the American Indian mascot issue, something she has been closely following. With both, young people are exposed to simplified stereotypes of Native people. She said it is damaging to Native children too. “These stereotypes—these representations—they are hurtful. They are embarrassing. Imagine a Mayan child going on to that website to play that game, how painful it might be for that child to see that.”
Charles said in the email that Kellogg has already removed the game from the website. “As a company long committed to diversity and inclusion and responsible marketing, Kellogg takes this concern very seriously.”
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