GoldieBlox, the educational toy manufacturer for girls, has decided to pull their controversial viral commercial that parodies the Beastie Boys’ “Girls.”
The company released the commercial, which features a group of girls singing their girl-power version of “Girls” while playing with a Rube Goldberg machine. Girls!
By the way, how cool are Rube Goldberg machines???
Anyway, remaining Beastie Boys members Michael Diamond (aka Mike D) and Adam Horovitz (aka Ad-Rock) sued the company for copyright infringement. GoldieBlox then claimed that the commercial was a parody video which fell under the fair-use act and counter-sued. What a mess!
Diamond and Horovitz responded by releasing an open letter to GoldieBlox admitting, “We were very impressed by the creativity and message behind your ad. We strongly support empowering young girls, breaking down gender stereotypes and igniting a passion for technology and engineering.”
However, they also noted, “As creative as it is, make no mistake, your video is an advertisement used to sell a product and long ago, we made a conscious decision not to permit our music and/or name to be used in product ads.” Diamond and Horovitz also acknowledged that their late partner Adam Yauch (aka MCA) stipulated in his will that no Beastie Boys songs could be used for commercial purposes. RIP Adam!
GoldieBlox ultimately pulled the commercial, but I think they’re content with all the press they received. Everybody wins!
Do you think GoldieBlox should have removed the “Girls” commercial? Let us know in the comments below!
