| YJCMTSU. Hat tip to Brian Tiemann. |
Air Arabia, a discount carrier based in the United Arab Emirates, features on its website the images of animated children who bear a striking resemblance to characters such as Stan, Kyle and Eric from the Comedy Central hit. When users return to the airline's homepage or simply click refresh on their browser, they're treated to several different characters. The imagery and facial expressions are similar to the boys from "South Park," but the kids are adorned in Arab-themed clothing and headgear, and thus, are not an exact match.
While no one from Air Arabia responded to WorldNetDaily's requests for comment, it appears the campaign began at some point in 2005.
Tony Fox, executive vice president of corporate communications at the Comedy Central network, said he was completely unaware of the purloined look until informed by WND. "It's amazing to me how quickly people will jump on a phenomenon," he said. "While I'm not a copyright expert, I don't know how we could have legal recourse for something that looks a lot like a 'South Park' character but actually isn't.""South Park" has made its mark on society by poking fun at countless people and topics, and Fox noted there are certain liberties people can take to skewer others. "As satirists we can do that," he said. "Satire is protected by the First Amendment."
Fox added he'd bring the matter to the attention of Comedy Central's legal department for its opinion about the airline's use of similar characters to market itself.
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