The Life of Matthew

As I’ve mentioned here and here, I’m a breastfed baby and think that it is the most wonderful way to get all of my nutritional needs as well as bond with Mummy. Unfortunately, not everyone thinks like this which is why Jennifer Laycock has set up a website called The Lactivist to “promote breastfeeding through humor.”

To help pay for the cost of running the site and to raise funds for milk banks, Jennifer sells T-Shirts with slogans on them. Mummy’s favourite is “That’s my baby’s lunch you’re staring at…” whilst Daddy likes “I Play with My Baby’s Food.”

So what does this have to do with pork I hear you ask?

Well, one of the T-shirt slogans is “the other white milk.” Now the National Pork Board has a trademarked phrase “the other white meat” and they have recently threatened The Lactivist with a cease and desist because they feel that the T-shirt slogan is “…confusingly similar or diluting of National Pork Board’s rights…”

Among other things, Jennifer has to “disable or terminate display of the slogan” and “destroy all goods and any tangible promotional materials that display the slogan.” If she doesn’t do this by the 5th February 2007 the National Pork Board will take legal action to get money off her. You can read the C&D letter for yourself.
Jennifer explains all of this with much more detail in her post Overzealous Big Pork Stomps on Breastfeeding Blogger.

The point that Jennifer makes is that she feels bullied by a large organisation and she doesn’t like being bullied. She has asked the Internet community to post about it and to write to the National Pork Board on her behalf. I first read about this on Jeremy Schoemaker’s blog post. and so I’m writing about it here. At the time of writing Jennifer has received 108 comments of support on her blog.

I think it is sickening that a large organisation should threaten someone over what is an insignificance to them in the large scheme of things and yet is a worry to someone else. To use bullying tactics toward someone who is trying to make a difference to babies health and promote breastfeeding is pathetic and by trying to protect their brand they will at the end of the day weaken it by using these tactics and underestimating the power of the blogosphere.
Here’s something for the National Pork Board to get their teeth into: As I wrote yesterday in my 5 Things post, pork is the food that makes me spit up the most and so makes me sick figuratively and literally.

Until next time, bye bye.