No
Means
No
vs.
Bluenotes
By
Tristan
Lapointe
The
McGill
Daily
(McGill
University)
MONTREAL
(CUP)
The
Canadian
Federation
of
Students
has
charged
a
major
clothing
company
with
copyright
infringement
by
incorporating
its
design
into
what
it
sees
as
an
offensive
and
dangerous
T-shirt
slogan.
Last
month,
Bluenotes,
one
of
Canada's
largest
retail
chains,
began
selling
a
T-shirt
reading
"NO
MEANS
have
aNOther
drink"
a
play
on
the
"No
Means
No"
slogan
of
a
CFS
campaign
against
dating
violence
and
date
rape.
The
CFS,
which
has
an
open
trademark
on
the
image
design,
contacted
Bluenotes
with
both
ethical
and
legal
complaints
about
the
way
that
the
clothing
company
was
using
their
trademarked
image.
The
garment
was
pulled
from
all
116
Bluenotes
stores
last
week.
Brent
Farrington,
deputy
chairman
and
vice-president
of
CFS
and
the
current
leader
of
the
No
Means
No
campaign,
said
that
the
attitude
expressed
by
the
shirt
is
partially
responsible
for
perpetuating
dating
violence.
"Initially
when
I
asked
why
they
made
this
shirt,
I
got
the
response
that
people
think
it's
funny.
But
even
in
irony
it's
not
particularly
amusing,"
he
said.
In
a
letter
to
the
CFS,
Bluenotes
president
Michael
Roden
apologized
for
the
offensive
shirt
and
asserted
that
his
company
was
"committed
to
reflecting
the
values
of
its
customers."
Roden
also
offered
his
design
services
to
the
CFS.
This
new
partnership
will
create
an
edgier
look
for
No
Means
No
and
will
probably
do
much
to
raise
the
profile
of
the
campaign,
Farrington
said.
"They've
offered
to
completely
redesign
our
logos
and
to
sell
our
shirts
in
their
stores,
which
will
give
a
portion
of
their
proceeds
to
women's
charities.
We
applaud
them
for
righting
this
wrong,"
Farrington
said.
The
No
Means
No
campaign
has
been
active
since
1994,
after
a
study
by
the
World
March
of
Women
in
1990
concluded
that
one
in
four
women
will
be
sexually
assaulted
or
attacked
at
some
point.
"Date
rape
and
sexual
assault
are
not
going
away.
In
fact,
they're
become
a
bigger
problem
than
ever
as
we'll
likely
see
in
a
new
study
on
the
issue
coming
out
this
year'
Farrington
said.
A
spokesperson
for
Bluenotes
was
not
available
for
comment.
5
College
of
New
Caledonia
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