San Diego – Best Buy recently sent a cease and desist letter demanding that online retailer Newegg cease use of “Geek On” in an advertising campaign. Best Buy also objects to the colors used in the Geek On logo – primarily black and orange – which happen to be the same colors used in Best Buy’s Geek Squad logo.
To make matters worse, Newegg also made fun of Best Buy employees in a recent TV commercial (see embedded video), and is publicizing Best Buy’s cease and desist letter and Newegg’s response. In fact, Newegg posted the reply on its facebook page. The page is complete with the following swipe at Best Buy: “However, we do not wish to offend any Best Buy employees, so in response [to the cease and desist letter] we’ve added a disclaimer to our videos:
“THIS ADVERTISEMENT PHOTOPLAY IS A WORK OF FICTION. ANY SIMILARITY TO REAL PERSONS (LIVING OR DEAD), BUSINESS ESTABLISHMENTS, PLACES, EVENTS, OR OTHER MATERIAL IS COINCIDENTAL AND UNINTENTIONAL. IT IS SOLELY INTENDED TO PARODY AND DRAW ATTENTION TO ANY BUSINESS ESTABLISHMENTS (BUT NONE IN PARTICULAR) THAT PROVIDE POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE, AND NO INFERENCES SHOULD BE DRAWN ABOUT THE IDENTITY, AFFILIATION OR LOCATION OF ANY PARTIES OR BUSINESSES DEPICTED. NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THIS COMMERCIAL.”
With the recent facebook posting and the ramping up of the mocking it seems clear now that Newegg’s entire Geek On advertising campaign could be to poke fun at Best Buy the way Apple did in its commercials that poked fun at Microsoft. Hopefully Best Buy is aware of this by now and has something interesting up its sleeve. Stay tuned.