The Hyundai Super Bowl XLIV television commecial for their Sonata car features a voice over which talks about “making luxury available to everyone” and six men appear for a few seconds playing basketball with the offending X O monogram ball. Hyundai are rejecting the claims that they attempted to mimic Louis Vuitton’s logo, releasing a statement to say “Hyundai Motors does not see any merit in the claims. The advertisement is a humorous parody and nothing more.”
A humorous parody? Louis Vuitton will not like that. But it is a fair call with the Hyundai commercial also featuring chandeliers hanging from lamp posts and men in a food hall eating lobsters, policemen snacking on caviar and over sized boats in driveways. They just made the wrong choice when it came to covering a basketball in a designer-inspired logo.
According to the New York Post, Vuitton’s law suit filed in the Manhattan federal court seeks unspecified damages for “unauthorized use” of its trademarked symbol which “tarnishing their inestimable value through impermissible association with products of inferior quality.”
“Hyundai’s conduct has caused and will likely continue to cause confusion, mistake, and deception among the general consuming public as to the origin and quality of its products advertised in the offending commercial,” the suit said.
Louis Vuitton also want to know how much profit Hyundai made from the 30-second ad, as well as all copies of the “offending commercial” to be destroyed.
Watch the Hyundai ‘Luxury’ Sonata commercial that aired during the XLIV Super Bowl earlier this year below.
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