Posts Tagged ‘ Post Cereal ’

Judge This: Has Hulk Hogan got a case vs. Cocoa Pebbles?

May 24th, 2010. By AbiK

So the Hulk (as in Hogan, not as in Incredible) is suing cereal maker Post over their use of a wrestler, Hulk Boulder, in an ad for Cocoa Pebbles. Hulk Boulder, admittedly, does seem to bear a bit of a likeness to the Hulk Hogan we knew circa 1990—that would be approximately the last year in which we saw that much hair on the human Hulk’s head. (Btw, Hulk Hogan’s real name would be Terry Bollea and he’s now pushing sixty.)

You be the judge on this one, but I’m having a hard time not laughing. Not because there may indeed be a little bit of ripping off the Hulk’s likeness, but because of some of the wording in the lawsuit—such as this where Hulk “is shown humiliated and cracked into pieces with broken teeth, with the closing banner, ‘Little Pieces…BIG TASTE!'”

Humiliated!

According to Tampa Bay Online, the lawsuit says Post Foods never sought or received Hogan’s permission to use his likeness to promote the cereal and Hogan says he raised his objections with Post in August, but the ads continued.

Apparently, Hogan claims he’s been harmed by, “the unauthorized and degrading depictions in the Cocoa Smashdown advertisements.”

What do you think?

Tags: Cocoa Pebbles, Hulk Hogan, Post Cereal, Wrestling
Posted in Emerging Issues, Intellectual Property | 12 Comments »