I wish I had written this. That tells you all you need to know about me.


Credit Jennifer, in a post on tacky Christian items (a sequel to her post on tacky Jewish items):


I haven’t looked, but I bet you could find a chocolate version of Baby Jesus in the manger, which would appropriately be called Immaculate Confection.


And yes, we know that the Immaculate Conception refers to Mary, but I find it funny nonetheless. And Mother Teresa did, and didn't, find it funny:


Bongo Java became world famous in December 1996 for the discovery of a cinnamon bun that many believe looks like Mother Teresa. The Music City Miracle was featured in media outlets as diverse as Washington Post, CNN, BBC, Paul Harvey, David Letterman and (so we've been told) a Calcutta newspaper. The bun has been preserved and is on continuous display at Bongo Java....

[Y]ou can imagine we were pretty darn suspicious when some guy called claiming to be Mother Teresa's attorney....In a very nice and reasonable way he explained to us his problem with us marketing NunBun™ merchandise. He assured us that Mother Teresa had a great sense of humor and enjoyed hearing about the bun that looked like her. However, she didn't like it that we printed "The Mother Teresa Bun" on the back of our t-shirts and on our prayer card/book marks. He went even further and said that he didn't think we should be using pictures of the bun on our merchandise because it was her image....

[Bongo Java's] legal expert agreed that we needed to stop using the words "Mother Teresa Cinnamon Bun" but he assured us that we had every right to use the image of the bun....We took the lawyer's advice and quickly adopted and even trademarked two names: NunBun™ and Immaculate Confection™. We continued to print the image of the bun with these new slogans and felt perfectly fine legally and morally about our actions.

Then we received a letter from Mother Teresa, which pretty much re-iterated what the attorney said: she didn't mind the bun itself but she didn't want us making money off her name or image.

Mother Teresa's letter started our second 15 minutes of fame....

To prove Mother Teresa's sense of humor and her enjoyment of the bun, her attorney told us the following story. He met with her and her replacement a week before she died. They all knew she was dying and they wanted to clear up a few urgent matters – one crazily enough was the NunBun™. After he explained the agreement worked out with Bongo Java and asked for her approval, Mother Teresa looked at her replacement and said "You tell those guys to find a cinnamon bun that looks like her."...

Mother Teresa’s attorney made the legal claim that we couldn’t use the image of the NunBun™ because it was her image. We maintained that if it really was her image it would be a miracle. Those who want Mother Teresa to be named a saint need to prove three miracles. So far none of them have called us to investigate whether the NunBun™ really is a miracle. We rest our case.



From the Ontario Empoblog (Latest OVVA news here)

Comments

Jennifer said…
If Mother Teresa was that upset, just imagine how ticked Jesus is going to be!
Ontario Emperor said…
If Jesus were worried about trademark infringement, my guess is that he'd be pursuing the Christian Scientists before going after the immaculate confections.

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