"Ho White and the Seven Dwarves" ad angers Disney

[nikjd68]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/new...-Seven-Dwarves-beer-advert-angers-Disney.html

The x-rated advertisement, for Jamieson's Raspberry Ale, depicts the fairytale heroine blowing smoke rings while lying in bed with seven semi-clad dwarves.

In this Disney dystopia, Snow White has been renamed "Ho White", while the loveable dwarves Sleepy, Happy and Doc are rebranded Filthy, Smarmy and Randy - supposedly to represent different types of drinkers.

Campaign creators The Foundry claimed the idea was to convince Australian drinkers that the fruit-flavoured beer was "anything but sweet".

However, the advertisement has reportedly angered Disney, the entertainment giant which licenses Snow White.

The Foundry said it had had "a little bit of contact" with Disney over the issue, according to Sydney's Daily Telegraph newspaper.

The Foundry's website had featured pictures of "Ho White" but links to the campaign appeared to have been disabled and the campaign's official website, anythingbutsweet.com, could not be accessed.

Australia's Food Week website speculated that this may be due to a copyright infringement.

Disney, which released the famous animated Snow White feature in 1937, was not immediately available for comment.

However, it is unlikely that the company, which runs the family-friendly Disney theme parks and is known for its cartoon feature films aimed at children, would agree to Snow White's image being used to sell beer.

 

[Cyrano]

Does Disney have a copyright on Snow White, given that this is based on an old fable?

 

[FireDancer]

It depends if the likeness of Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs that Disney created is used in the parody. The fable itself shouldn't still be under any copyright but the likeness developed by Disney maybe since their interpretation of the character's likeness is new. A patent and copyright lawyer would have to chime in to clarify.

There are also air use exceptions to copyright and one of them is for use in parody:

A parody is a work that ridicules another, usually well-known work, by imitating it in a comic way. Judges understand that by its nature, parody demands some taking from the original work being parodied. Unlike other forms of fair use, a fairly extensive use of the original work is permitted in a parody in order to "conjure up" the original.

 

[wdwpins]

re: copyright Good question

Snow White is based on Charles Perrault's fable, "Blanche-Neige et les sept nains." This French author also wrote "La Belle au bois dormant" (Sleeping Beauty) and Cendrillon (Cinderella) among others.