Naked Cowboy: Eye Candy Vs. Candy Giant

Mars Inc. aired a commercial with some dressed up M&Ms – one was visiting the Statue of Liberty, another was visiting the Empire State Building, and a third was running through Times Square. That last M&M jumped out of a cab wearing underwear, boots and hat, and started playing the guitar.

The billboard where the commercial aired is only one block away from me. I had people coming up and commenting on it for a time before I even went down and looked at it myself. Once I saw it and my different levels of management had looked into it, we pursued it immediately. It should have been pursued from the get-go.

I see my image all over the place in many different capacities, which I know don’t have my permission. You know, smaller level things. Any kind of validation is always cool. Obviously the currency of my brand is to work with other enormous companies, like myself, in corporate co-op situations.

With M&M, I’m just exposing it for what it is: theft. They are taking my corporate credentials and combining it with theirs without paying for it. I’m not sure why they thought they could get away with it, but their campaign literature states explicitly that it was intended to be the iconic Naked Cowboy - from Times Square, in Times Square - that everyone knows and loves.

The M&M looked just like my registered trademark, and was one block from where my branding and anchoring capabilities are strongest, since I am synonymous with Times Square.

Mars Inc. must have these ingenious marketers who thought, ‘Hell, let’s put it up there and if he doesn’t say anything, that’s fine, and if he does, then we’ll get all the publicity.’ Some people think any publicity is good publicity.