Social Branding - Camel/Rolling Stone Win Over Indie Bands

Camel/Rolling Stone Win Over Indie Bands

Written by Andrew Ermlick

Thursday, 04 February 2010

In 2007, we blogged about how Rolling Stone published a comic spread dropping indie rock band names explicitly and implicitly via cartoons. Coincidentally or not, Camel ads were placed throughout this "Indie Rock Universe" spread, suggesting Camel's support of indie music, leading some of the bands to file suit against parent companies of Rolling Stone and Camel. Claiming "unauthorized use of artists' names, unauthorized use of artist names for commerical advantage, and unfair business practices," bands like Xiu Xiu and Fxcked Up shouldered the suit for 186 other indie groups, all understandably irked that Rolling Stone and Camel would commisserate to sell indie music followers cigarettes under the endorsement of the bands. Well, last week the final gavel was dropped, and sadly, indie rock took an "L" and Rolling Stone came out as the victor.

Initially, things were looking good, as courts were fuming that the RJ Reynolds tobacco ad had used cartoonish drawings, and therefore violated a statute regarding using child-friendly imagery. The company was to either pay $300,000 or run a youth-oriented anti-tobacco ad in Rolling Stone.

But it all got washed away. Last week, California's 1st District Court of Appeal dismissed the suit against the magazine. There will be no 300 g's. No anti-smoking ad. Here is the court's written statement on the matter:

"Simply put, there is no legal precedent for converting noncommercial speech into commercial speech merely based on its proximity to the latter. There is also no precedent for converting a noncommercial speaker into a commercial speaker in the absence of any direct interest in the product or service being sold."

So, because Rolling Stone is selling magazines, not cigarettes, they are allowed to place ads wherever they want, besides, next to, across from any content in their magazine.

I haven't seen any word from Xiu Xiu or Fxcked Up on the matter, but I think that this is both a philosophical blow to the indie bands in the suit, as much as it is a buttress for disallusion with the corporate system, its ties to the tobacco industry, and trying to get things done in the courts.