Within hours of Washington Secrets posting a story about a new STD and HIV at-home testing firm using Muppets Bert and Ernie in a promotion, “Sesame Street” said it was issuing a “cease and desist” letter to the company, Mately.
In an email, the Sesame Workshop Vice President Elizabeth Weinreb Fishman said, “The Mately ad, which you wrote about in your article that you posted earlier, represents an unauthorized, unlicensed use of our characters. We are contacting Mately and the appropriate parties with a cease and desist letter instructing them to take this down.”
The image was part of Mately’s edgy effort to draw attention to its developing product as they raise money on the fund sourcing site Indiegogo. The company offers subscription testing services and allows customers to post the results on dating sites.
In the promotion, the puppets are shown looking at test results. “See Ernie, you’ve got nothing to worry about, everything is positive,” it reads.
“Sesame Street” in the past has fought off charges that Bert and Ernie are sending gay signals. In fact, they said in a 2011 Facebook posting: “Bert and Ernie are best friends. They were created to teach preschoolers that people can be good friends with those who are very different from themselves. Even though they are identified as male characters and possess many human traits and characteristics (as most ‘Sesame Street’ Muppets™ do), they remain puppets, and do not have a sexual orientation.”
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
