这封信由 澳大利亚 Geelong Geelong Grammar School 13 岁的 Alexis Rippon 撰写，是学生公开信竞赛的前 9 名获奖者之一，我们收到了 8,065 份参赛作品。
G’day Warner Brothers,
You may be a global leader in the entertainment industry, but I’d like to highlight how you’ve been unjust toward a super cute, yet awkwardly destructive, native Australian creature.
In 1954, you created the cartoon character Taz. He is such a well-known and devious creature and became an iconic member of the Looney Tunes family. So popular was Taz that you trademarked him decades ago. Essentially, since then, you have prohibited anyone from using the name or images that resemble Taz. But did you know that Taz is based on a real animal, a renowned carnivorous marsupial from Down Under? Taz is a Tasmanian devil.
Tasmania is a small island state off the south coast of Australia, so small that Manhattan’s population is over three times the size. And on this island lives the Tasmanian devil. The devil is iconically Australian and is not only emblematic to the island state, but to all Aussies. When I say the devil lives in Tasmania, I should emphasize that the species is fast becoming critically endangered. The devil population is receding rapidly because of an incurable facial tumor disease. It’s a race to save the species.
Because of your trademark, the devil’s name now cannot be used without agreement from you. This issue was ignited recently because there is a new team entering our Australian Football League competition. The team will be from Tasmania and will be the state’s first-ever team to play in our national competition. So, the obvious choice was to call them the Tasmanian Devils. But that idea was obstructed because of your intellectual property entitlements. Your obnoxiousness led to a stoush between you and the A.F.L. because your corporate greed denied us of what is rightfully ours.
Your $20-billion-dollar empire has profiteered for decades off our beloved native species that has been in existence for over 20,000 years. The least you could do is make a meaningful financial contribution to fund conservation and research to help save the devil population. I think it is now time for you to “save face” and demonstrate your corporate social responsibility before it is too late, and the devil is gone.
From Alexis Rippon, a 13-year-old animal lover
Works Cited
Frost, Natasha. Australia vs. Warner Bros.?. The New York Times. 5 May 2023.
University of Tasmania. Save the Tasmanian Devil Appeal. 10 Jan. 2024.