How a toy company got the Beastie Boys wrong [View all]

http://www.salon.com/2013/11/25/how_a_toy_company_got_the_beastie_boys_wrong/

GoldieBlox and the Beastie Boys battle it out over sexism and the rap classic "Girls"





When the toy company GoldieBlox went viral earlier this month with an adorably inventive, celebratory anti-princess ad, it didn’t just do so with its cheeky Rube Goldberg narrative. It also did it with a witty reworking of a Beastie Boys classic, turning “License to Ill’s” “Girls” into a pint-sized anthem. “Girls!” it sang. “To build the spaceships! Girls! To code the new apps! To grow up knowing that they can engineer that!” But the seemingly universal GoldieBlox love party hit a snag late last week, when the remaining Beastie Boys complained about copyright infringement.

When I first saw the GoldieBlox ad, in all its marvelous controlled mayhem, I eagerly shared it with my own two daughters. And when I heard of the Beastie Boys’ action against it, I was bummed. Not because the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers stepped in, but because I had assumed, until the news revealed otherwise, that they’d given permission for its use. GoldieBlox is now heading to California federal court to argue that its revamped recording is not an infringement but a “parody.” And that sucks.

The reworked version of “Girls” is decidedly satirical – and mighty cute. “You think you know what we want?” sing a chorus of little voices. “Pink and pretty, it’s girls. Just like the fifties, it’s girls. You like to buy us pink toys, and everything else is for boys. And you can always get us dolls. It’s time to change; we deserve to see a range. Cause all our toys look just the same! And we would like to use our brains!” What kind of a spoilsport would want to shut that down? Maybe one with a good reason.

The band’s reps say that “There was no complaint filed, no demand letter (no demand, for that matter) when [GoldieBlox] sued Beastie Boys.” And on Monday, the Beastie Boys released a clarifying statement in an open letter asserting that the group was “impressed by the creativity and the message” and that “We strongly support empowering young girls, breaking down gender stereotypes and igniting a passion for technology and engineering.” But, the Beastie Boys added, “Make no mistake, your video is an advertisement that is designed to sell a product, and long ago, we made a conscious decision not to permit our music and/or name to be used in product ads. When we tried to simply ask how and why our song ‘Girls’ had been used in your ad without our permission, YOU sued US.” Not cool, GoldieBlox.