When Mom Ain’t Happy, Ain’t Nobody Happy

In this case, the “mom” is my good friend, Jennifer Laycock, who is the editor of Search Engine Guide and has been incredibly helpful to me as a fellow speaker on the “Big Ideas for Small Biz” and “75-Minute Search Abs” sessions at the SES conferences.

Jenn isn’t happy because of an uber-moronic decision by the National Pork Board, owners of the trademark, “The Other White Meat.” And if you’ve done any surfing around the SEO/online marketing blogs today, you know nobody else is happy, either.*

What’s happening, in one sentence, is this: The National Pork Board is threatening to sue Jenn because she used the phrase “the other white milk” on a t-shirt that raises funds to support breastfeeding moms.

This is the definition of Big trying to squash small. It’s ugly. It’s dumb. It’s unnecessary. It’s bad PR.

So, here’s what I ask you to do: Visit Jenn’s blog, The Lactivist, and scroll down to find the contact list of people at the National Pork Board. Contact them. Just speak up. Shouldn’t take you more than 3 minutes, and you’ll be doing a Good Thing.

* Seriously, I don’t think I’ve ever seen such an incredible display of rallying behind a friend here. This is beautiful to see.