'Cease and desist' order on Bert & Ernie STD, HIV testing promo

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.”