AAN Association of Alternative Newsmedia

Portland Mercury Spoof Cover Draws Letter from National Geographic

By AAN Staff

december 19, 2008 02:54 pm

Portland Mercury Spoof Cover Draws Letter from National Geographic

For the paper's Halloween issue, the Mercury ran a cover disguising itself as an issue of National Geographic, which has trademarked its yellow-banded cover design. This week editor Steve Humphrey says he received a letter from National Geographic's executive vice president that proves "not everybody in the world is a humorless dick." The letter said the magazine's first instinct in similar cases is to issue a cease-and-desist letter, but it recognized that the Mercury cover "was not malicious appropriation, but all in good fun." The letter also urged the Mercury to encourage its readers to buy subscriptions to National Geographic.

View full article at The Porland Mercury