Where things can get pretty igry ...Rick's Cafe Americain

Now, I’ve had issues with the whole “What can Brown do for you?” slogan for a long time.  I won’t go off on the rant this usually inspires, but I will state that I don’t think that the words “brown” and “do” can be used in the same sentence as an effective marketing tool for anyone over the age of 6.  I also don’t find “brown” to be a color that invokes any real positive attributes.  Whatever.

The purpose of this post is to ask the following question:  Where have we arrived in our society when a company can purport to trademark the color brown?  Will other package delivery services soon be enjoined from using cardboard boxes of that color, lest they benefit from the invocation of the “Brown-ness” of UPS?

Now, I realize that what UPS is protecting is the distinctive color of their vans, uniforms, logos, etc.  They want to prevent competitors from dressing their employees up in ridiculous chocolate parodies of the Cub Scout uniform and sending them out in giant turd-mobiles in an effort to capitalize on UPS’ established presence and good will.  However, it is still a little jarring to see that UPS now claims to own the Color Brown.  Still, I’m sure I’ll adjust.

Rick’s Cafe is the exclusive owner of every word on this page, including the phrase “the Color Brown”.  We reserve the right to come to your house and beat you up if you use any of these words without permission.