http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/239699-rand-paul-yanks-ray-bans-after-complaintApril 22, 2015, 12:13 pm
Rand Paul yanks Ray-Bans after complaint
By Molly K. Hooper and Alexandra Oliveira
Ray-Ban has asked Sen. Rand Paul’s presidential campaign to quit selling the brand’s Wayfarer sunglasses, which Paul had imprinted with the “Rand” logo.
The Rand-Ban sunglasses were for sale for $150 on Paul’s website as recently as Tuesday. The website described the product as “the intersection of politics and cool.”
But the campaign didn’t have Ray-Ban’s consent, and the company didn’t think that was cool.
“We learned that the Rand Paul campaign had been selling Ray-Ban sunglasses imprinted with the “Rand” logo without our consent,” Jane Lehman, who handles corporate media at Luxottica, Ray-Ban’s public relations firm, wrote in an email to The Hill.
“After a formal request from us, they promptly removed the product from their site and agreed to cease any further use of our trademarks,” she wrote.
Paul’s campaign, which has featured the product on its cyber store, declined to comment for this story.
One picture on Paul's website showed President John F. Kennedy wearing the iconic glasses atop his head next to a picture of Paul with a similar pair of glasses.
“I can hear Senator Bentsen now, ‘I knew Jack Kennedy and you're no Jack Kennedy,’ ” a caption on the site said. “Well, you and I may not be Jack Kennedy, but Rand likes Raybans and now we can all own Rand branded Raybans.”
“$150 is more than you might normally pay for sunglasses, but these are Raybans and even more, they are indelibly marked with the Rand Brand ... and as always, it's a contribution to the Rand Paul for President campaign,” the site said.
