The Australian children’s cartoon Bluey has become an international hit, with countless lines of merchandise and brands displaying the character on their products to increase profitability. Hell, even the Jonas Brothers got into it! However, as one greyhound racing group from Tasmania discovered this week, slapping a picture of a beloved character on your advertisement isn’t always the best idea.
The Tasmanian Trotting Club simply sought to promote an event, but instead it found itself at the centre of public criticism and a potential copyright case, due to the inclusion of Bluey and Bingo Heeler in their promotional material.
The event in question: a greyhound racing tournament that will be held on Good Friday, which the group promoted by editing a photo of the two characters to portray them playing on a racetrack.
Just gonna say it straight up: probably a little on the nose there, guys.
The post spruiked on Facebook that the event had “fun planned for the kids” and encouraged all “Bluey and Bingo lovers” to join the the event.
After outcry that the post was A) inappropriately promoting a greyhound racing event to kids, and B) potentially breached copyright laws, it was removed and replaced with a different image.
However the replacement wasn’t much better; this time featuring two people wearing costumes of Bluey and Bingo superimposed onto the racetrack, instead of the actual cartoon characters.
Gosh, isn’t it amazing the things you can do with a Canva account?
A spokesperson from the BBC (who have the commercial right over Bluey, despite it being an Australian show) issued a warning to the Tassie sports group.
“BBC Studios takes infringement of its intellectual property, and that of its partners, very seriously and will take appropriate action to enforce its rights,” said the spokesperson.
However since changing the promotional material to the second image, the chief executive of the Tasmanian Trotting Club, Steve Devereaux, has declared that “any perceived copyright issue has been resolved”.
Additionally Devereaux stated that the event “has always been promoted as a family day by the racing clubs”.
“Parents make their own choices in relation to entertainment for their children. I’m sure they will on this occasion,” the chief executive said per the ABC.
Since the dispute became the topic of global headlines, the secondary post has also been removed from Facebook.
The Good Friday racing event will still go ahead, despite calls from animal activists to ban the sport entirely.
