A cosmetic brand Hard Candy failed to own exclusivity of #metoo movement for its products to fight the patriarchy, by withdrawing its trademark application.
The ‘Hash-tag Me Too’ movement captivated the entire social media back in October 2017. The movement was predominantly initiated by the Hollywood celebs to unveil the dark side of the rape culture worldwide.
The Emergence of #metoo
However, #MeToo movement was initially created by Ms Burke back in 2007. Tarana Burke is a social activist who helps victims of sexual harassment.
In spite of being under a long usage, the phrase swept the social media like twitter and facebook when Alyssa Milano, a popular actress tweeted to urge all the women across the globe to stand for the cause. The tweet asked all the women who had ever been in such a thin situation to write ‘#metoo’ as their status.
Since then the movement went viral like a fire. Millions of women have been stepping forward to publically denounce their experiences.
The efforts of celebs like Eva Longoria, America Ferrera, Reese Witherspoon and Rhimes took off the limelight at the Annual Golden Globe Awards where the Hollywood decided to adorn in black to support the cause of sexual harassment.
In the attempt to gain from the first mover advantage, of being the first to secure their exclusive rights over the cause, they filed a Trademark application on 20th October 2017.
The Application for trademark registration was filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark bearing the serial number 87,653,745 under the following classes:
• International Class 3 ( Cosmetics and Cleaning preparations)
• US Classes 1,4,6,50,51,52 (Cosmetics and Fragrances)
This implies if the trademarks were approved, then Hard Candy would become the only company to use such a phrase for its cosmetic products and fragrances.
It was the smart timing of filing the trademark, just after the social movement got viral which made the world to criticize the brand. People started to rebuke the efforts of the beauty company to mint profits off a socio-political campaign.
The company slashes down all the allegations of making money by glorifying the anti-sexual assault culture by revealing their intentions. They claimed that they aimed to spread the word further and to donate all the proceeds to the women globally affiliated with the #MeToo cause.
Moreover, constant attempts have been made by companies to link its products to the campaign in the stride to join the cause. A Lipstick named ‘F*ck Hollywood’ was launched by Lip Slut just before the Golden Globe Awards to help survivors of sexual assault by donating all its proceeds to the cause.
