Research and ethics

1. GOLDIEBLOX: BUILDING
A FUTURE OF THEFT
RACHEL WEIS

2. BACK STORY
GoldieBlox specializes in engineering and construction toys for girls. The ad
for the “Princess Machine,” is with three young girls who built a Rube
Goldberg machine and listened to the Beastie Boys track, “Girls”. GoldieBlox
altered the lyrics to relate to their mission.
The Lawsuit started because the Beastie Boys do not allow any of their music
to be used for advertisements. This was also stated in passed band member,
Adam Yauchs’ will.
Beastie Boys sued under copyright infringement which led to the GoldieBlox
to file their own lawsuit that argued “the ad was a parody and therefore
protected under fair use.”
•Once GoldieBlox knew it was in his will, they wanted to respect his wishes and removed the song
from the video.

3. CLAIMS AGAINST
GOLDIEBLOX
• Trademark infringement
• Capitalizing from Beastie Boys composition
• False endorsement
• Unfair competition
• Misappropriation of publicity rights

4. LAWSUIT
• The settlement included
• The issuance of an apology by GoldieBlox
• A payment by GoldieBlox to one or more charities selected by Beastie Boys
• Charities that supported science, technology, engineering and mathematics education for girl
• GoldieBlox never officially withdrew from the lawsuit because in the initial statement it
included that they were ready to stop the lawsuit only if that meant they would no
longer be under any legal threat from the Beastie Boys team.
• Then Beastie Boys created a counter suit.
• The counter suit against GoldieBlox was for not creating their own positive campaign
and instead using one that “condones and encourages stealing from others.”

5. MICRO ISSUES
https://www.youtube.com/wat
ch?v=UcpB6FYS2RM
Without “Girls”
https://www.youtube.com/wat
ch?v=IIGyVa5Xftw
Without “Girls”
When looking at the two videos, the one containing
the song “Girls” does tie into their point they are
trying to get across. The video without the Beastie
Boys song just allows you to see the vision and not
necessarily get the entire picture though.

6. GOLDIEBLOX “GIRL” ADVERTISMENT
• Trying to get rid of gender stereotypes
• Engineering and construction toys
• Putting the toys together and showing a
process
• Uses their new lyrics to “Girls” to promote
worrying about your brain instead of just
looks
GIRL TOY ADVERTISEMENTS IN TODAYS
SOCIETY
• Typically toys focused toward make-up,
hair or appearance.
• Either animal or dolls are the toys.
• Typically done inside, not many have
physical activity.
Similarities
• Primarily uses pink
• Promote some type of work

7. MEDIA
RESPONSIBILITIES
• These are just a few of the Code of Ethics from SPJ that the
media should have been using when covering this case. The
medias main job is to report the truth.
• Code of ethics:
• Take responsibility for the accuracy of their work. Verify
information before releasing it. Use original sources
whenever possible.
• Gather, update and correct information throughout the
life of a news story.
• Provide context. Take special care not to misrepresent or
oversimplify in promoting, previewing or summarizing a
story.
• Consider the long-term implications of the extended
reach and permanence of publication. Provide updated
and more complete information as appropriate.
• I don’t think that the song should have been included simply
because it was in Yauch’s will. There are other reasons as well,
but it was one of his last wishes that those songs not be used
for advertisements and that needs to be respected.

8. FINAL
STATEMENT
• “Girls should be able to design their own princess
castles.”
• Sterling, GoldieBlox founder’s final statement.
• The fact that girls are invited to design the project
doesn’t mitigate the stereotype in my opinion. This
company is making the statement that girls
shouldn’t only focus on hair, make-up and looks but
also focus on how smart they are and to use their
brain to create and build like it was meant to.

9. PRIVATELY VS STOCKHOLDERS?
• I do think this situation would have turned out differently if GoldieBlox had
stockholders rather than being privately owned. Typically with stockholders you
have more connections to the business world and those people are the ones who
can find loop holes and usually figure out a better deal or answer to the situation.

10. ACTIVISM VS. ADVERTISEMENT
Considering the fact that GoldieBlox continued to
use the color pink, they are not going to be able to
“disrupt the pink aisle in toy stores”. If they would
have used a more gender-neutral color like yellow,
they would have probably had a better chance at
removing the stereotypical pink for girls.
Advertisements can be used to get a point across
but that is about it. Advertisements is used to spread
the word, but the activism is where the change is
primarily going to be made. In this situation,
GoldieBlox did a great thing by promoting toward
gender equalities at a young age but isn’t involved
enough to be considered activism.

11. OBLIGATION VS.
RESPONSIBILITY
GoldieBlox did not have an obligation to remove the song “Girl” from their ad
because of the statement in Yauchs’ will. It is an ethical decision on whether to
remove the song or not.
Filmmakers should have done more research about using other people's songs.
Copyright is a very serious law and is set into place, so credit is given where due.
Since they wanted to use this specific song GoldieBlox should have done what they
needed to do ethically because creating their advertisement.
The consumers have no obligation or responsibility in any part of this case. It is not
the consumers responsibility to know the legal in’s and outs of a band's legal
logistics. If they had their own opinion for the ad, then that is something they can
publish or handle how they choose to.

12. KANT
• I believe that in this situation Kants framework would have been most productive.
Within this advertisement and lawsuit it was more so about doing what is right
even if you can somehow get around it legally. GoldieBlox did the right ethical
thing by removing the song from the advertisement and stating their apology in
regard to Yauchs passing and wish.

13. • https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/beastie-boys-settle-lawsuit-
over-girls-toy-commercial-184719/
• https://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp
• https://futureofmusic.org/blog/2013/12/16/6-things-you-need-know-
understand-goldieblox-v-beastie-boys