There are some in the media who have been making a big fuss over the fact that Trayvon Martin’s mom is trying to trademark her son’s name. Some have even gone so far as to insinuate that she is trying to cash in on her dead son. To the contrary, trademarking her son’s name is a very smart move. If she trademark’s her son’s name it becomes much more difficult for unscrupulous entrepreneurs to strike it rich off of this tragedy. Currently, anyone can make and sell anything relating to Trayvon Martin. If his name is trademarked, than anyone looking to use his name and perhaps likeness would need to acquire permission from the holder of the trademark. Meaning that Martin’s mom would have the final say in who or what can use her son’s name.
Some media outlets would have you believe that there is some nefarious plan behind all of this trademark talk. They fail to look at it from the other side, whether because they are too ignorant or just following an agenda. There is no reason to assume that it’s a case of a mother cashing in on a tragedy, but a mother looking to protect her son’s memory. Without a trademark we could see anyone selling shirts, posters, hoodies, bulletproof vests, etc all while using her son’s name.
Without a trademark some people who buy items to show support for the case might believe that their money is going towards his family, when in reality it could be going to some guy looking to make a few bucks. There are many in the media that continue to demonize a teen who can no longer speak for himself. They are grasping at anything to make Martin and his family look bad.
Until any and all facts are presented, it is best to hold off on rush judgments and race baiting from both sides. Eventually the truth will come out and then we will all know what happened. This tragedy has found itself hijacked by the right and left-wing media to push their own agendas. The left are unabashed in their support over Martin and the right are unabashed in their support of Zimmerman.
Currently, all we can do is speculate and wonder what really happened. This isn’t a time to point fingers or place blame as either side could be proven wrong. The media need to rediscover what it means to be a journalist and not propaganda peddlers. The job of the press is to simply report the facts and allow people to make their own conclusions. Sadly in the 24 hour news cycle, facts are often pushed aside for interviews with “experts” and “eyewitnesses”. The coverage is biased and stories that could negatively impact the agenda are left out of the news cycle or simply reported almost as an after thought.
It’s the 24 hour news cycle that blew something like trademarking a name a big story. During the coverage, no trademark lawyers were consulted to give an unbiased reason as to why his mother would want a trademark. Instead, the media focused on here say, opinion reported as fact, and talking points to fill in the story. The fact is, the media made a story out of a non-story.
