Apparently Best Buy didn’t think our blue polo shirts (with a yellow price tag reading “Improv Everywhere”) were quite as funny as we did. They sent a Cease and Desist letter to both us and our friends at Neighborhoodies who were selling the shirts. Neighborhoodies couldn’t afford to have their entire site taken down (as was threatened) during their busiest month of the year, so they pulled the shirts. We weren’t making any commission on the shirts ourselves (in order to have them be as cheap as possible), but it was a shame to see such a cool shirt go. We figured Best Buy was probably not in the right legally, but did not want to deal with the hassle of legal fees to prove our point.
Here’s where the story gets interesting. Today, Best Buy sent a C&D to our friend Scott Beale over at laughingsquid.com threatening legal action unless he removes the blog post referencing our shirts! They’re threatening to sue someone for just covering the news story of the shirts!
You can see his original post here: IE Best Buy Blue Polo Shirts
And see the mission that inspired all of this here: Best Buy Mission
Our T-Shirt version of the shirt is still for sale: Best Buy Logo T-Shirt ($5.99)
Other Improv Everywhere Missions in retail stores:
111 Shirtless Men in Abercombie and Fitch
Slow Motion Shopping in Home Depot
Dead Playwright Anton Chekov Speaks at Barnes and Noble
Hijacking Listening Stations at Virgin Megastore
Creating a Time Warp in Starbucks
UPDATE: Best Buy Apologizes to Laughing Squid!
UPDATE: Minneapolis local TV news covers the story!
Check out our C&D letter after the jump.
Continue reading ‘Best Buy Handing Out C&D Letters for Christmas’
