An Alpine mountaineer, used as an advertising character of Peter's Chocolate, has become well-known to every magazine reader in the country. The use of this figure harmonizes with the phrase "high as the Alps in quality", which is used in the Peter's Chocolate advertising.
The advantage to be gained, in the long run, by adopting a catchy and attractive advertising character, is shown by the nation-wide popularity of the Campbell "Kids". Everybody knows them and their rippling jingles, and they have no doubt become immensely valuable to the concern that owns them.
The law of unfair competition protects an advertiser in the use of an advertising character when the character is the advertiser's own creation.
In cases where living models are used for this purpose, the advertiser should remember that a model has a right to sell his services—that is, to pose—for anybody he pleases. Some advertisers make a contract of long duration with the models they intend to use, binding them to an agreement not to pose for any other commercial purpose.
Catch-phrases used in advertising, like Ivory Soap's famous "It Floats", and Bon Ami's "Hasn't Scratched Yet" are protectable against infringement and unauthorized use by another than the owner, through the same principle of law which gives protection to a manufacturer against a competitor who has imitated his packages, labels and circulars.
An advertiser's exclusive right to a catch-phrase is conditional on its constant and persistent use by him. An intermittent use does not establish a right to use it to the exclusion of others, nor does a use of the phrase in varying forms of wording, even if the sense of it is preserved, establish such a right.
It is hardly necessary to say that an exclusive right cannot be created for a phrase that is not distinctive, such as "Your Opportunity", "Clip the Coupon", etc. The common language is free to all, and an advertiser cannot prevent others from using a phrase in their advertisements merely because he used it in his advertisements first, unless he can prove that they are using his language with the intention of misleading the public.
The Owl
And The Lamp
The owl is the symbol of wisdom—and wisdom means experience, judgment, and knowledge, combined with common-sense.