The common people at Quaker Oats are very fond of their marque . Ontheir internet site , they proudly take the " Quaker Man " mascot , registered in 1877 , was the first - ever record trademark for a breakfast product . Inside the Quaker Oats Company , he ’s known dearly as " Larry " ( thoughevidencesuggests he ’s establish on William Penn ) , and the cartoon Quaker evenunderwent a makeoverrecently to keep him " fresh and forward-looking " for younger consumers .
Despite using the Quaker name and logotype because it is a " symbolization of good lineament and honest value , " the Quaker Oats Company has never had any prescribed ties with the Religious Society of Friends ( a.k.a . Quakers ) . While this has prove to bemildly frustratingfor some in the religious group , the peace of mind - loving Quakers are n’t a contentious bunch ( former American Quakers in Pennsylvania werewarned againstsettling disputes in courts ) , and they have depart about their life without lodge any official legal complaints against the company ( which is now owned by PepsiCo ) .
The monolithic oatmeal pudding stone that uses the Quakers ' name , however , hasnotbeen hesitating to threaten legal action mechanism , as evidenced by the following exchange between Quaker Oats ' counseling and a penis of the Orange County Religious Society of Friends . The lawyer ’s ill was intend to scare the group from using the company ’s cherishedlegal stylemark , a tactic that would have prove more effective if it were n’t wholly based on a meter reading mistake .
The response , which is write on the Southern California group ’s internet site under the headline " Quaker Oats threatens to sue us , " is a great lesson on how to smoothly copse off an overzealous , " amicable " asking with hilarious vitality :
We touch out to the Quaker Oats Company about the veracity of this substitution . " This letter predates me , " their illustration enounce in an email , " but from what I can gather the alphabetic character is nearly 15 years old . "
[ h / t : Steve Silberman ]
