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In Response to STILLERSTRONG

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78 Comments

You may have seen the recent viral video of Ben Stiller proclaiming a “totally original” campaign called STILLERSTRONG to help build a school in Haiti. While his intentions are golden, his obvious disregard for our brand is astonishing. Lance and the LIVESTRONG Board of Directors held an emergency meeting today regarding Stiller’s obvious trademark infringement. Below is a video from that meeting. The video is raw footage and not as professionally produced as Mr. Stiller’s – we have actual work to do.

  • Steve P

    Wow! Don’t forget Steven Colbert with his “Steven Strong, Army of Me”!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Gary-DeSha/1015787350 Gary DeSha

    Can’t wait to see how this unfolds!

  • Mike

    How about building a school in the USA????????

  • Jimmy P

    How come all these stars make a ton of money here and you never here about them doing great things here at home? Impress me want you, build a school here, help out your fellow Americans 1st!

  • Jim

    I have always thought Ben Stiller was a jackass, and now I have proof! Hollywood hasn’t had an original idea in too many decades! Sue his sorry butt!

  • Scott Sehm

    I am confused by Stiller’s website: is he really mocking the LiveStrong brand or playfully using it as a catalyst to promote his cause? I would like to think it’s the latter…

  • http://desertpenguin.doesntexist.org Jeremy

    Ummm… what about WRISTSTRONG from Steven Colbert? http://shop.comedycentral.com/detail.php?p=76596

    And why are you suing him anyway? Imitation is always the sincerest form of flattery.. you are doing this for altruistic reasons right? Well so are Stiller and Colbert..

  • http://www.joyridesnh.com/ Scott Joy

    So… we can just enjoy the movie and everything is really all good, right?

  • Tiffany

    Ha!

  • curlyjo

    seriously – irony fellas – come on!

  • Tim OB

    True to the cause and true to the brand….protect it….you are doing great work Livestrong! Thanks from all the folks fighting or supporting the fight against cancer

  • kenb

    You should let him parody LIVESTRONG. Why so up-tight?
    You must know he’s poking fun. Right?

  • Jimmy

    Its obviously a wind up! Lance & Ben having fun.
    Do you not think this was discussed before Ben went ahead with it? Have you seen Livestrong deal with other cases in this way?

  • http://www.humerca.com bigk

    Hahaha. This comments really made me laugh :-) Don’t you get it? It’s a joke/publicity/advertising.

  • Rich C

    Lance- some think you were being funny. I would like a confirmation that your video is a serious response to Stillerstrong. I think you were serious. Will you please confirm that this video was a serious response and that you fully intend to go after Stillerstrong?

    I do believe Ben felt his parody charity was going to be okay with you. He underestimated what Livestrong means to so many.

    Thank you!
    Rich

  • Nicholas

    It seems as though very few realize that this is very obviously a joke. VERY OBVIOUSLY!

  • Roma

    Are you people serious!? It’s obvious from the horrific acting that they’re having a laugh. Plus do you really think Lance didn’t know about Stillerstrong before it was ever public? Get a clue.

  • Jayne

    Good move, LIVESTRONG! I am in shock that a “so-called friend” would do such a thing without asking you first! Cancer is a serious matter, Haiti is a serious matter, Darfur is a serious matter.
    Laughter and having fun is a great thing in the correct place!
    Ben should take all the money that he made from doing that stunt….. along with some of his own money, go back to Haiti and help with the labor and costs.
    Then, I may become a fan of his again.
    As it stands now, I am sickened.
    To Ben: “There’s only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.”-ALDOUS HUXLEY

  • Ashley

    Seriously, people, if it isn’t completely staged, then why were the board members doing their best to not laugh?!

  • H

    so I saw this link on my facebook page, watched it, and immediately searched out Stiller’s video to see what was going on…and I’ve come to the conclusion that Stiller is an idiot. I have no idea if he is trying to create a real charity or if he’s just being a dick and spoofing charity work. But then the question of, is this whole situation serious or are you both just having a laugh?, arose and that seems just as bad.

  • http://rosellajo.wordpress.com adayinthelyfe

    Hey guys? This is called “dry humor”. They’re joking with each other. RELAX.

  • scottee

    comedy gold, reminds me of recent public feuds created to help the cause! serious bit of tongue in cheek .. Headbands are so uncool

  • Chile

    People cry too much. Its all in good humor but atleast its used for something positive. Everyone on here is complaining about building a school in the USA, but we have more than enough and our counties and states are not giving those schools enough money to run properly. These people DONT have schools. These are people who later on grow up and come to USA to find work. People you work next to, live next to. Everyone deserves a chance. So does Ben Stiller and his mock/branding/fund raiser. Lance, im proud of you as a survivor and athlete but get over it. We all know everyday people bite a little off another. Its how and what we do with it that makes a difference. Think about all those “what would jesus do” people and millions of other companies creating those rubber bracelets. Are you suing them for taking a pretty much solid concept from your campaign? Ive never seen those bracelets until I saw those yellow ones floating around.

  • GR

    Lance and board: Read how Steely Dan handled Owen Wilson’s participation in the infringement on their song trademark “Cousin Dupree”. http://www.steelydan.com/heyluke.html

  • tomstrong

    This is not a good thing be it joke or serious, the board comes off like the mob after Frankenstein… I just hope it ends well, sueing freinds is not a good example of how we should act/react so those on the serrious side are being alienated.

  • Schnellinger

    Hey people, I sittin here laughing, first about the video and now even more about you, who take this serious. All the board members hardly suppress their laughing during the clip. Open your eyes!

  • carol

    LMAO!

  • Scott Justesen

    Having lost my brother Gregory Randall Justesen to Herthel Cell cancer 2 and a half years I have been a huge supporter of LIVESTRONG ever since. The excuse of “It’s art” or “Oh, it’s only satire” is lame at best. Stillers site has revealed a surprising lack of taste and a high degree of callouness. Fortunately for the LIVESTRONG foundation there is LEGALSTRONG. The real humor will be the impending court judgement and Stiller fans running away in droves.

  • Gooey

    Too funny.

    Hope this gets the publicity it deserves. Lance and Ben are obviously good freinds and it can only do good for both parties. Promoting Livestrong and Stillerstrong will hopefully raise and increase awareness for both charities.

    Looking forward to future responses can see it only getting funnier as Ben Stiller is a funny dude and Lance has his moments too.

    Keep up the great work guys

  • Steven from Europe

    Djeezes, are all you people such morons that you don’t realize this is parody on parody? My God, I am not even a native English speaker and can smell the satire after 15s of video… BTW I saw Lance having some other good laughs during last TdF with the boycot of Belgian sportschannel Sporza: hilarious, but it might be too difficult to spot the even more subtle satire in that one ;-) Lance is a true comedian: his relation with Robin Williams obviously gets him so great comedy tips. It is good to see that an amazing person as LA still knows the art of humour in addition to his other phenomenal capacities, unlike some of his fans here…

  • Mariah

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHA…..HA

  • http://www.rodvesper.com Roderick

    This is two guys having fun with each other. The bad thing is that I don’t think anyone is taking it serious enough the offensive nature of Stiller poking fun at the community that “is almost like you’re part of a club.” Most people who wear the Livestrong band have not chosen to be part of this “club.” I imagine that this was all intended to be some good fun and a way for these two to drum up some publicity for their respective charities. I just think it was poorly thought out and executed.

  • http://www.makepovertyhistory.org Markus

    What if it’s real? How do you feel about this being dragged out into public? If it’s a joke? How do you feel about joking around with serious problems like cancer and poverty? Both ways dont work for me, sorry guys! It’s one for the #2009FailList

  • Ray

    People, don’t be so darn serious! It’s all in good fun. Do you think Lance would actually retaliate via youtube? Sounds more like somethink Chad Ochocinco would do. You guys need to sweat the small stuff.

    http://popwatch.ew.com/2009/12/03/ben-stiller-charity-stillerstrong/

  • http://www.centralfloridatop5.com Bess

    Stillerstrong doesn’t even have a good ring to it…

  • Sue Weldon

    Can’t you see the people around the table laughing? Oh lordy.. Get the joke, people.

  • Ryan

    Let’s not be hostile (Roma). Folks have “a clue,” just not the same understanding that you do. For many folks, they don’t see the humor in a campaign against cancer… and anything the dilutes the message or diverts the cause isn’t appreciated.

    Regardless of the fact that this might be satire, Livestrong has many loyal followers that don’t find much to laugh about when they pour their heart and soul into the cause, when they watch their family wither and their loved ones die.

    It’s hard to spend so much time being serious… and then waste time trying to figure out if these are two celebrities joking around… or a serious organization not wanting to see their brand picked up by other causes.

    My guess is that there’s some tongue and cheek… but I also think you’ll see StillerStrong change or go away. But what do I know, I probably don’t have a clue right?

  • kid

    Why oh why do people insist on saying “yourself’ when the grammatically correct word is “your”. Sorry, pet peeve.

    I guess lots of folks didn’t pick up on things like Sanja Gupta’s horrible over acting. :)

  • Liam

    While this is all very funny, I think it belittles both charities by making jokes of both. I am all for the Andy Kaufman style comic setup – but he never put such sensitive subject matter in his work. IF this is all for a good cause, I hope you can reveal it as such..

    That being said, laughter is great medicine and I hope that is all this is…

    And it is great that you are both taking time to raise money and awareness for good causes.

  • http://www.careinfinity.com Dereesa Reid

    Thank you Lance and the LIVESTRONG Board for taking a stand – this is what great leaders and boards are all about!

  • Cameron

    Come on everyone, the obvious reference of pursuing legal action against the Army clearly shows everyone is kidding. This is another clever way that both Ben Stiller and Lance Armstrong have conjured up to help each other’s admirable causes. Keep up the good work!

  • Bardo

    Clearly a joke. They are good friends and are obviously in it together. Any of you who say otherwise, please stop voting in our national elections, you’re just not bright enough to make those kinds of decisions.

  • steve

    Lance, you should really stick to ridig a bike, which you do very well. Acting is not in your future.

    People you do realize this is a very bad attempt at satire?

  • Jason

    I haven’t watched the video nor do I intend to. I stand by the LAF and LIVESTRONG and know that they would not tie themselves to something as ugly as this. There is no humor in cancer or the pain it brings on it victims and their families. This is no joking matter. If this turns out to be a cheap attempt at humor, I’ll never run, bike or swim in a LIVESTRONG label again…

  • Lisa W.

    People! Come on! It’s not serious. LOL!! The stillerSTRONG video is a riot too.

  • Real

    “How about building a school in the US?”…

    Yeah… there are no schools in the US. Oh…. wait…. There are schools… with free education. Oh… and they have schoolbooks.

    But of course, children in Haiti and the rest of the planet who have no schools can just go to Hell because we in America are to damn selfish to spare a few of our billions and billions of dollars to help them get an education, be able to become self-sufficient, and possibly be able to build their own economies.

  • Alton Hughes

    So, you love him like a brother but you can’t speak with him privately and get him to quitetly remove the offending content? If you did and he refused, why not make him look like a tremendous ass and point out your discrete overtures? If you didn’t, you are the oversensitive ass.

  • Mikey

    If Lance is being serious about going after Ben Stiller then that point is not coming across in the video.

  • elisia

    Maybe the people saying why not build a school in the U.S. Obviously, have never been to Haiti. Maybe people should get outside of their zip code and see what’s going on in the world! This country just has to stop stealing all the money and pouring it into a oil war, and then maybe they will use that money to build schools in the U.S.

  • Sean

    Hey Lance; come clean, is this whole thing a joke?

  • timfa

    God Bless America. 150 million people with a sense of humour laughing at the other 150 million without one.

  • RT

    Clearly you people who take this vid seriously are complete suckers! It’s an ironic joke! You can even here the camera man chuckling!

  • jlh

    Obviously a joke…the cameraman was laughing while he was taping!!!

  • Me

    Damn people can be dumb!

  • Me

    Duh. Considering Lance just launched a new book, of course it was entirely planned…and I am pretty sure that ID PR, who helped produce it, works with both Lance and Ben. Everybody wins! How else are these guys going to get press?!?! Snooze…

  • Brody

    Hey, #44, can I have your Livestrong kit?

    Folks, if you can’t laugh at the worst things in life, then those things will crush you. Lighten up or you’ll snap like a twig when things get really tough.

    Ben Stiller does comedy and this is his signature style. Naturally this is how he will help Save the Children raise money for Haiti. Getting other large entities to play along, like Lance and Livestrong, will only further the cause–unless, perhaps, they have overestimated their audience’s level of intelligence for humor.

    Let’s hope the overly dour do not ruin the potential for good that is happening here.

  • Gottobike

    Yeah… and rumor has it Stiller is working on a new book. It’s titled “Bounceback 2.0″. I think Liz K. did the photos. Should be in stores soon!

  • Adviceguy

    Here is some free advice. Everything you are doing here, is the wrong way to go about taking a joke. In fact people lose RESPECT FOR YOU because it shows how detatched you actually are from everyday person. And how you still manage to slide in insults when trying to handle a “serious” matter.

  • Debbie Knickman

    Thanks for providing some entertainment at CHLA!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Brian-Sirgutz/577990624 Brian Sirgutz

    thank you for raising awareness of two incred impt issues, cancer and Haiti, where few have healthcare at all.. In order to cut through the data smog of the media gossip BS, you can use humor to make everyone connect on the issues effecting humanity…. Cancer is the #1 killer of humans (and I assume pets) on the planet… 50% of people in Haiti dont have TOILETS and most live in extreme poverty being its the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere.

  • Jim

    Its a JOKE people!!!! Seriously, is it that not evident?!?!

  • SueE

    TOO funny – and what is almost as funny is the folks who treat this seriously. Only in America!

  • Denis

    How can somebody find Stiller funny!!May be you have to be american.

  • Dan Brown

    After reading the comments associated with the Livestrong vs. Stillerstrong videos, I’m amazed at the reactions of some people. Especially the ones that talk about if this is a joke, they are joking about something that is no laughing matter!

    Lighten up people! Comedy and comedians have been using their talents to support causes for years. From Comic Relief to Cam Neely’s Comics Come Home (the longest running comic event to support causes in the country). Do you think that if a comedian were to stand up and do nothing but give a serious talk about cancer or Haiti, without throwing in some humor, that they would raise a fraction of the money they could by doing a “comic” show?

    Ben is funny and Lance is getting there. Keep it up! The more people that laugh, and the more that express their opinions on what you are doing (good or bad) … the more people are made aware.

  • Ncb

    Video not working on iPhone. Would love to see

  • Aaron

    I’m so stupid. I was about half-way through the video before I realized it was a joke.

  • SandyC

    LOL, “is this a joke?” that just proves it. Someone like LA can say anything and too many people will take it at face value. They won’t use cues to decipher the situation i.e. Comment at the beginning about having more importatnt things to do than make a quality video. Laughing video guy and board members. It is a publicity stunt people! Go back and pay some attention. Y’all probably believe in global warming as defined by Al Gore too. (FYI – the planet is cyclical. We can do better, but the current warming and past cooling aren’t entirely our fault.)
    That all aside – good promotion. Getting lots of attention for good causes.

  • Ellen

    OK, you have to get that Lance has a sense of humor when his organization’s TLA is “LAF”! I agree that there is very little about Cancer to laugh about, but PLEASE remember that “laughter is the best medicine”. Having watched several friends and family members die horribly and several others survive the horrible treatment, I know for sure that those who had some humor in their lives were much happier. So were those that cared for them.

    So I will fight cancer, and ride with serious intensity. But, that doesn’t mean I can’t laugh!

  • Amy

    Hilarious, and more hilarious is everyone not “getting it”. Very well done. I love the crack “we have actual work to do.”

  • http://www.linkedin.com/in/madisonipattorney Mindi Giftos

    Excellent. Ben and Lance are brilliant. This is creativity and branding at its very best (while treading carefully on IP appropriately). Kudos. Best I have seen in a long time and glad to see it go viral. Best of luck to you both and your terrific causes.

  • David

    My wife had cancer. Chemotherapy, radiation, the whole deal. No argument from me: it IS serious.

    But this is great stuff – really funny. Obviously it is raising awareness/money for others, so the end result is positive. Why trash it?

    Unless, of course, the folks “taking it for real” are in on the joke too!

  • Andy Kennedy

    “Armystrong” – that had me in stitches. Dudes!

  • MarkB

    Lance was funny at the ESPYs a few years ago; Stiller never has been, IMO.

    Neither is this.

    Maybe I am dour and humorless — my circle of family and friends would disagree, though.

    Sure, people think Stiller is funny — people thought Seinfeld was funny, too.

    This whole thing can go on without me, as can the Livestrong campaign….

  • Anna M

    I thought the video was great, very well done and clearly got some important issues across.

  • http://www.improveeyesightnaturally.org Alex @ Improve Eyesight Naturally

    This is funny stuff, but even more funny are all the people that are offended or think this is serious. Come on folks, it is all the livestrong board can do to not break out in laughter.

    Lance and Ben are buddies, I was surprised at the Tour when Ben hopped on Lances bike before a critical stage while warming up. I can bet the mechanics were cringing just a little, but Lance was very relaxed, enough to let Ben do the gag. Great marketing to raise funds.

  • Sean

    This whole thing is a joke.Is it some weird promotion for Dodgeball 2? Johan bruyneel’s comments on the matter are really funny.

  • http://www.docstoc.com/docs/29690732/How-to-Improve-Eyesight-Naturally How to Improve Eyesight Naturally

    Video was great, very funny and entertaining. This is great marketing to raise funds, and a lot of good fun between Lance and Ben.

  • http://livestrongblog.org Cynthia

    He’s joking people!