Stella Artois recycles the CBC logo

In an ad for a recycling campaign, it seems appropriate, clever even, to recycle elements of an old image. But when the ad is for Belgian beer, and the logo belongs to someone else, it doesn't make much sense—particularly when the designer fails to ask permission for its use.

Last month, InsidetheCBC.com posted an article about Stella Artois's new "Recyclage de Luxe" campaign running on the tube in London. Designer Cristiana Couceiro's graphic borrows Burton Kramer's 1974 classic exploding pizza pattern (or, as some people affectionately call it, the exploding asshole), cropped and pasted as an accent on the ad. A cool campaign, certainly, but perhaps not the greatest way to go about it—the ceeb never granted Couceiro permission to use their copyrighted emblem (and it appears this isn't the first time she's copped the image).

Although it was on their company's blog, when we called into the broadcaster's marketing department last month, they were unaware of the logo's use. By the time the CBC's Marco Dubé got back to us this week, they'd mailed two letters across the pond—one to Couceiro, and one to Stella. While the former has yet to reply, Stella apologized for the accidental thievery and has stopped running the campaign. Dubé told us that the CBC was satisfied with Stella's response, and doesn't plan to sue, whine, or point fingers. How polite.


Via Torontoist