E*Trade is an online stock broker¬age company known for its commer¬cials featuring talking babies who trade stocks.
Lindsay Lohan is an actress and musician known for several run-ins with the law involving DUIs and cocaine, along with a few stints in rehab.
If you remember ads from this year’s Super Bowl, you probably remember the E*Trade baby web¬chatting with his girlfriend, who accused him of spending time with “that milkaholic Lindsay.”
Neither of us even thought about Lindsay Lohan the first time we watched the ad, but she is calling foul and suing E*Trade for a total of $100 million: $50 million for compen¬satory damages and $50 million for exemplary damages.
Lohan and her attorney say that she, as a celebrity, has first-name recognition like Madonna and Oprah, and that the E*Trade ad is using her name, characterization and personal¬ity for commercial purposes without her consent and is therefore violating her right to privacy.
For those of you who have not seen the commercial, a blonde tod¬dler who bears no resemblance to the red-headed Lohan plays “that milkaholic Lindsay.”
Lindsay Lohan has had some harsh epithets tossed her way before; this potential slam seems somewhat childish (no pun intended) compared to some other things we’ve heard about her.
Brandon Davis screamed two pretty choice words about Lohan’s potentially colorful anatomy while out with Paris Hilton in 2006, and Lohan’s directors and co-stars have not had overwhelmingly positive things to say about her work ethic in the not-so-distant past.
A leaked script for the commercial shows that the baby who became the “milkaholic Lindsay” was originally named Deborah, and there was a list of potential adjectives to describe her.
Though not one of the cur¬rently most popular baby names, Lindsay, which ranks at 314, beats out Deborah, which comes in at 780. And a Facebook search of the name Lindsay returns more than 200,000 results.
While the name change could be somewhat suspect, we do not buy the first-name recognition claim. Aside from her Twitter notoriety, Lohan has not been active in her career as of late.
Unless she decides to break up with Samantha Ronson or tweet nude photos again, she won’t be get¬ting much attention.
It seems like this suit has very little ground to stand on, as E*Trade did not use a red-headed child, did not mimic Lohan’s voice or use any other similar references aside from her very common first name.
Bloggers have speculated that this may be a publicity stunt to get the public noticing Lohan once again.
This ad first aired a month ago, and has been played rather heavily ever since. If the unauthorized use of her name and likeness was so obvious and so damaging to Lohan’s career and psyche, why did it take her a month to file suit?
Em & Em
Published: Friday, March 19, 2010
Updated: Friday, March 19, 2010
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