Obama Blend: Respectful Tribute
I read with interest, and a fair amount of personal concern,
a recent article by Al Kamen in the Washington Post (Monday, Jan. 12, 2009). Kamen reported that one of the first
pieces of business for Gregory Craig, Mr. Obama's legal counsel, will be to put
a stop to any commercial misuse of the president's image, the presidential seal,
and the great seal of the United
States.
According to the article, soon after the inauguration Mr.
Craig and his staff will issue cease-and-desist letters to commercial entities that
are inappropriately and unlawfully employing presidential images.
My concern, of course, centers on Mr. Craig's
interpretation of our now widely-enjoyed Longfellow's Coffee® Obama Blend specialty coffee.
When we conceived Longfellow's Coffee Obama Blend, we made
the immediate decision to promote it with the utmost respect for Mr. Obama. The
labels on our packages of coffee state: "It was with unabashed admiration for
our nation's 44th president that we developed our Obama Blend."
Further, from the outset, we pledged never to exploit Mr.
Obama by using his image on our labels or in our advertising. And certainly we
do not print either the presidential seal or the great seal of the United States
on any of our materials.
Unlike so many of the Obama-inspired commercial items on the
market -- tee shirts, caps, can openers, dog dishes, wine glasses, and more -- our Longfellow's
Coffee Obama Blend bears direct relevance to Mr. Obama's life. Longfellow's
Coffee Obama Blend consists of the best specialty coffee beans grown in Kenya, Hawaii
and Indonesia.
I am reading Mr. Obama's memoir, Dreams of my Father, and from the earliest pages he makes it readily
apparent how he believes these three regions contributed to forming his ideas, his
ideals and his character.
If I were an artist I might express my admiration of and
hope for Mr. Obama's administration by painting a portrait or sculpting a
statue. If I were a musician I might compose a song or a symphony. But I am a
mere purveyor of specialty coffees, and as such I chose to express my
sentiments by developing the best-tasting coffee that, by design, has direct application
to Barack Obama's life.
Will we receive a cease-and-desist letter from Mr. Craig? I
don't think we should. But if we do, we will immediately comply by changing the
name of our wonderful-tasting coffee. To paraphrase Shakespeare, "What's in a name? That beverage which we call Longfellow's Coffee Obama Blend by any other name would
taste as sweet."
Bruce