Google It! - Budget Direct mis-use Google’s name
A new advertising campaign on Melbourne Television tonight for the car insurance company Budget Direct, is mis-using Google’s name.
Or so one would anticipate, once Google’s lawyers get wind of the incident.
Budget’s popular series of adverts feature a young woman with a French accent advising how you can save on Car Insurance by Calling “Boo-Jet”. The young lady is then corrected by an Australian man “That’s Budget, Love”.
The most recent instalment of the ad sees the young lady telling our Australian friend to “Goo-gal it”, who corrects her and tells her to “Google it”.
Google has been a staunch defender of their brand name since the popular term was penned in TV series in the early 2000’s. Whilst flattering, and a sign of the Search Engine Giant’s success and popularity, Google is concerned such pop-culture references may result in the name no longer being protected under intellectual property laws, where brands such as “band-aid” and “Xeroxíng”get used in conversation to refer to sticking plasters that aren’t owned by the Jonson & Jonson (the owner of band-aid) and the copy device being used to photocopy not actually being a Xerox branded computer.
It is rather surprising and amusing that Budget Direct would use Google in such a context in their advertising, and it is either a deliberate attempt by Budget to gain some publicity (and a possibly costly legal suit), or an oversight by a marketing agency or advertiser, and if so very embarrassing, as any savvy advertiser should know of Google’s advertising and usage guidelines.
Either way, Search Engine News is almost certain that Google and Budget Direct will be in the courts soon.
