The maker of Marmite is threatening legal action against the British National Party to stop it from using a jar of the spread in a party broadcast.
Unilever said it had not given the BNP permission to use its product and was looking into taking out an injunction.
The BNP's online broadcast was removed from the party's website, but it is still available to view on file sharing website YouTube.
BNP leader Nick Griffin told the BBC the broadcast was created as a spoof.
Unilever said in a statement: "Neither Marmite nor any other Unilever brand are aligned to any political party.
"We are currently initiating injunction proceedings against the BNP to remove the Marmite jar from the online broadcast and prevent them from using it in future."
BBC News
The BNP are a bunch of well weird fuckers.
ReplyDeleteWhat next, using toilet duck on their electuon leaflets!
This was a complete stunt to get some coverage of the BNP's moribund campaign and sadly it's worked. There is a puff-piece in today's Daily Mail which links to the video and gives a complete reprise.
ReplyDeleteThe Daily Mail and Daily Express are doing their best to maximise the BNP vote in the Election. They probably think that the BNP can take a few Labour seats and thus help the Tories.
I didn't watch the BNP's election broadcast on TV but I watched it early this morning on their website. It was below the general professional standard of the other parties, but that doesn't make the 5 minute film any less effective I suppose.
ReplyDeleteWhat I was confused by was a picture of a jar of Marmite in the top left hand of the screen. Obviously symbolic of the slogan - love it or hate it - I thought it was a touch of humour exclusively for their website. Then around midday, I was astonished to hear that Unilever, owner of the Marmite brand, was launching legal action against the BNP for the unauthorised use of the Marmite image in its election broadcast. I nearly fell of my chair with disbelief.
I was just going to ask if the BNP leadership really were so utterly STUPID as to use a popular household product - without permission - to endorse their message? But then, of course the BNP leadership really are so utterly STUPID as to do such a thing. Have they no sense of embarrassment at all?
And why do they assume that people either love the party or hate it? What about the floating voters who may just consider voting BNP as a protest or because they may agree with 1 or 2 issues? This doesn't mean they love the party. Who are the BNP to arrogantly think that if someone shows interest in the party, they immediately love it?
Whilst taking the party seriously once, until innumerable occasions of stupidity meant I would never embarrass myself by being associated with them, I cannot believe that after all these years in the limelight they are still light years behind the other parties and will never be taken seriously.
I have learned something about the BNP today. They couldn't run a marmite store on a cattle ranch.
The BNP could probably attract a million voters if it fielded candidates across the country but no more than about 10,000 paid-up members, and many of them turn out to have been duped.
ReplyDeleteLove them or hate them? It strikes me that millions of people hate them, hardly anyone loves them and a significant number of people find themselves temporarily taken in by them.
Marmite my arse, as another former National Front member who saw sense might have put it.
"What next, using toilet duck on their electuon leaflets!"
ReplyDelete@Brenda: lulz, nice one.
In fact that should be the headline of the article.
What about the soldiers? No Marmite no soldiers.........
ReplyDeletetulip