Weezer Vs. Beer Ads

Weezer have filed a lawsuit against beer company Miller and their advertising agency Young & Rubicam following an advertising campaign for the beer that used the Weezer name in a "grossly misleading and deceptive" manner.

The ads in question date back to 2004, but the suit was only filed at the end of last month; another band, Audioslave, have previously filed a similar suit against Miller and their associates. The offending campaign of posters used pictures of concert tickets (one of which was for a Weezer show) with the tagline, "Rock Without the Souvenir. That's Like Beer Without Taste".

Weezer - whose Rivers Cuomo is listed as the owner of their name/brand - neither consented to the use of their name for such purposes, and neither were they happy with being associated with a number of other acts mentioned on the posters, such as Devo, Velvet Revolver, Incubus, Bon Jovi and the aforementioned Audioslave. Weezer (presumably only Cuomo) claim that they "do not wish to be associated in any advertisement" with these bands.

Cuomo is asking for punitive damages amounting to three times whatever Millers' profits from the poster campaign were, as well as "an injunction against any further use of the band's image".

Thanks for the info to DiS.

Comments

[demonhunter2]

who cares?

[iloveyourmom13]

They should have settled out of court for ten kegs..

Way better deal, IMO...

[smidy]

This is ridiculous.

[guitar690]

totally insane...weezer's jus out for some money and fame...ther not even that good

[S2S]

Meh, this won't stop me from drinking Miller every weekend.

[powerhead]

smidy wrote:

This is ridiculous.

aye

[SireGreat]

What's with all these lawsuits? Unless if Miller is totally bashing your band, why do anything at all?

[RedNovember]

Cuomo is a freak. I hate that guy.

[FS Guitar]

SireGreat wrote:

What's with all these lawsuits? Unless if Miller is totally bashing your band, why do anything at all?

because they're
1) making money off your name/work
2) making it appear as if you consented the ad, which makes you look like a sellout...although suing for 3X profits isn't exactly modest either...

[Ed Vedder19]

worst tasting beer ever

[kryzay311]

that is one of the stupidest things i've ever heard.

[Spankey]

They wait two years to do anything about it, sounds like money just crossed their minds.

[ROCK.ON]

somebody's a greedy little bitch...

.yea miller was wrong in using their name but its not like all weezer's fans are gonna b like "OMG!! i hate weezer now cuz the poster with beer tells me to!!"

[Spaceman_Spiff]

Good for him. Even if he is asking for too much money, you cant let companies walk all over your music.

[ready4thebreak]

he'll win, but i'm curious how they could go 2 years without noticing that. I bet the rest of the band didnt care, but since they broke up or taking a break or what ever the hell their calling it, i guess cuomo gotta get some kinda income.

[daytona2134]

They were not happy with being associated with velvet revolver and audioslave? they are 1000 times better than weezer could ever be, Why was devo on there? didnt they sing whip it?

[I_Dont_Know]

ready4thebreak wrote:

he'll win, but i'm curious how they could go 2 years without noticing that. I bet the rest of the band didnt care, but since they broke up or taking a break or what ever the hell their calling it, i guess cuomo gotta get some kinda income.

cuomos is the band, isn't he like the only original member, he writes everything.

And weezer have just as much credibility as those bands but they're a lot harder when weezer is more grunge.

[flambe chicken]

Ed Vedder19 wrote:

worst tasting beer ever

Better than Bud.

As much as I don't mind Weezer, I think that Rivers is in the wrong on this one. Why didn't he just issue a statement after the ad was released saying 'Weezer is in no way affiliated with this brand', or something. Rivers Cuomo (and others like him) are the reason why so many people in England think that loads of Americans file pointless lawsuits.

[Sean-Man]

rock without beer, its like beer without rock

checked

[Ibanezguy350]

guitar690 wrote:

totally insane...weezer's jus out for some money and fame...ther not even that good

whoa dude, i think youd be pretty pissed off too if some jackass used your logo in their commercial. maybe weezer doesn't want to be associated with beer and drinking.

[brandenmdit]

weezer is a greedy but really taking it way out of porportion i didnt even notice weezer

[studio57lie]

Why does everyone bash bands and say they aren't any good? Honestly I know of no other band that sounds like them. They are original and have several songs that I absolutely love (Perfect Situation, Hash Pipe, etc.)

[dragonscock]

weezer r fukin amazing even tho there complete nerds

[Ian T Masters]

What a whinny bitch.

Those bands, especially VR kick ass.