Republican candidate Meg Whitman's campaign recently released a spot that calls Democratic nominee Jerry Brown's political career a failure. At one point, the ad features a photo of Jerry Brown on what appears to be the FAIL Blog (roughly 50 seconds into the clip embedded below) with "FAIL" stamped over his face. The spot has drawn the ire of the Cheezburger Network, makers of FAIL Blog and I Can Has Cheezburger.
On Friday, CEO Ben Huh took to the FAIL Blog to pen a post calling the ad campaign an "Honesty Fail." Huh is so displeased with the spot that the company is considering legal action, telling CNET, "We are talking to our attorneys on this."
While some might see this as a somewhat humorous and current way for the Whitman campaign to bash the opposing candidate, the Cheezburger Network is not laughing. The issue is that the FAIL Blog image used in the ad is obviously manufactured, but the blog makers would rather not be affiliated with either campaign.
Saying as much, Huh writes, "The FAIL Blog community involves liberals, conservatives and everyone across the political spectrum. And we do not endorse the use of FAIL Blog’s image or any content on any of the Cheezburger sites for anyone’s political gain."
What happens next remains to be seen. Huh has asked for a written apology and the removal of the video, although the matter could escalate if the company has legal ground to take further action.