Cafepress and brand satire
Many thanks to silicon alley insider for their recent post on the issue that brands have taken with consumer generated shirts which feature their trademarks in unflattering manners. The facilitator of this brand abuse is cafepress.com, an online t-shirt shop that can produce products on demand with nearly any design you can throw at it.
No one is going to love everything about every brand, but trying to stop the expression of frustration isn’t going after the root cause. The better way is to find your fans and facilitate their efforts.
Look at this offering that one could buy if they liked BMW. It’s a unique design, but incorporates brand icons in a positive manner. Searching for walmart on the same site delivers no positive messages. Coke has chosen to use the site to promote attractive official goods that fit with the rest of the site. They’ve started the conversation in a positive manner, and are using their icon and brand in the proper way. Maybe they never sell a single product there, but by having a good selection, their presence can help encourage others to be positive, and discourage negative messages.
