Chief Wahoo Chips

Cleveland Indians logo is the feature character for "cool" snack food.

My son works in Shanghai and he came across this bag of chips at a grocery store. Yes, it's Chief Wahoo sans the feather, and, yes, this is a flagrant theft of trademark (unless the Indians are licensing the logo to the chip manufacturer).

In China the "fine" for using someone's trademark is about $500. That's not much to stop them from doing it again. If you are an American brand it is difficult to get anyone to "cease and desist" from using your trademark. When I traveled to China in 2003 there is a popular place in Shanghai called the "Everything Market." It is an outdoor marketplace with hundreds of eight-foot wide booths selling every type of counterfeit branded goods from Ray-ban sunglasses to Burberry purses. There must be 50 booths selling fake North Face coats. At the Great Wall we got a big laugh seeing all the American tourists wearing brand new North Face clothing.

We all know the power of trademarks. But what does a trademark mean in another culture? In the U.S. the Cleveland Indians Chief Wahoo is well-known, even reviled, as a sports logo, but did anyone ever think it would represent "coolness" in order to sell potato chips?

By the way the chips are a tomato flavor. Yuck!

Copyright © 2005 James D. Fisher
All rights reserved.