So, John Cena is returning on the Memorial Day Raw, and as is typical for Cena, he’ll be bringing a new t-shirt with him. In fact, WWE leaked the design early, which you can see right here.
http://comicbook.com/wwe/2016/05/27/pabst-blue-ribbon-responds-to-new-john-cena-shirt/ Source: ComicBook.com
Now, if you’re familiar with one of America’s cheapest and therefore more popular beers, you might recognize some similarities between that shirt and the logo of Pabst Blue Ribbon. It turns out, the people at PBR saw the resemblance too, and they were apparently none too please.
A message to @JohnCena & the @WWE: We have a chokehold called the Cease & Desist. Pretty sure we see you🖕 pic.twitter.com/AKWjUEXiUj
— Pabst Blue Ribbon (@PabstBlueRibbon) May 27, 2016
It seems odd that a company would handle something like this over Twitter, but it seems that threat was enough to get WWE to immediately pull the shirt, later replacing it with a new version that doesn’t resemble a beer logo in any way.
http://411mania.com/wrestling/wwe-releases-redesigned-version-of-john-cena-shirt/ Source: 411mania.com
We feel compelled to point out that WWE probably didn’t need to do this, as they were likely protected under parody laws (otherwise roughly 90% of t-shirts you buy on the Internet would never exist), and in fact they’ve done similar Cena shirts in the past, including an infamous yellow-and-green design that was a pretty clear take on the John Deere logo (wait a second, John Cena…John Deere…we just got that). However, it seems like WWE decided it wasn’t worth the legal fight, and quickly caved.
Now, onto the bigger question: Why was WWE marketing a shirt that was a pretty clear parody of a beer company logo to children?
