( - promoted by AdamGreen)
I got taken on an unexpected political and emotional roller coaster ride when reading this AP article by Julianna Goldman: White House Lawyers Look to Limit Commercial Use of President  My first reaction to that headline was to picture a crackdown on the little-guy vendors I see around DC proudly selling their Obama t-shirts, pins, and other wares. (Who could be against that guy on the right?) But then I read this, and I got a little more open minded to a crackdown: Obama’s calls for change and his “Yes We Can” campaign mantra are being evoked to sell assembly-required furniture in Ikea’s “Embrace Change” marketing campaign, bargain airfares during Southwest Airlines Inc.’s “Yes You Can” sale...
I've noticed this sort of advertising all around DC. I'd have to see the legal rationale for limiting such speech before truly being open to any sort of legal crackdown, but from a moral/political/consumer perspective, it just rubs me the wrong way. Corporate America wasn't exactly embracing the message of change before the election, so for them to spend mass amounts of money trying to tap into it now -- as if millions of silly people will go out and buy a mattress because Obama slogans are repurposed on a billboard -- is rather insulting. (Then again, I stopped and took pictures of a billboard and blogged about it, so who's the dummy here?)
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