Wednesday, May 8, 2013

What to do to piss off Latinos in America and everywhere else...


...You try to patent Dia de los Muertos. According to the Huffington Post article, "The entertainment giant filed trademark applications on May 1 for the phrase “Dia de los Muertos,” the subject of an upcoming animated film by Pixar studios, Mexican news site Animal Político reports." I didn't even know you could trademark something cultural. I'm assuming as large as Disney is they would have a team of experts behind them saying, "Cease and diciest!"

I don't need to go on and tell you why Dia de los Muertos is important, or maybe I should. But there was even a petition on Change.org and you know when things get on Change.org it gets series. While I am not Mexican I completely understand the cultural sensitivity behind the cause. Imagine how Mexicans (in Mexico) felt about this. Just another big top corporation attempting to take over one culture at a time. And why Dia de los Muertos you ask? That's because Mexico is pretty much taking over the U.S. one state at a time...seriously. According to the Pew Hispanic Center, "The size of the Mexican-origin population in the U.S. has risen dramatically over the past four decades—from 5.4 million in 1970 to a record 33.7 million in 2012." So why not capitalize on this money and make a move about it. Right?

This pretty much sums up our message to Disney:



An article on BeingLatino says, "Disney has withdrawn this petition, citing a name change for the film as the reason. That’s great news. Thanks for acknowledging all the criticism you received from potential viewers, and apologizing for your cultural insensitivity." In the end, the next time you attempt to trademark us, you should probably call your local Latino leader. This sort of reminds me of the festival celebrating Cuba yet had a Cinco de Mayo party. I guess they didn't call their local Latino leader either.

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