...and, boy, is it tedious

If you thought fashion house Hugo Boss might react to the the news that comic Joe Lycett changed his name to match theirs with something in the same spirit of light playfulness, think again.

The company has issued a statement about the publicity stunt – designed to draw attention to the company taking legal action against small firms, including a Welsh brewery, using the word ‘boss’  – and it’s entirely devoid of emotion.

In tediously dull language, the fashion label said: ‘We welcome the comedian formerly known as Joe Lycett as a member of the Hugo Boss family.

‘As he will know, as a "well-known" trademark (as opposed to a "regular" trademark) Hugo Boss enjoys increased protection not only against trademarks for similar goods, but also for dissimilar goods across all product categories for our brands and trademarks Boss and Boss Black and their associated visual appearance.

‘Following the application by Boss Brewing to register a trademark similar to our "well-known" trademark, we approached them to prevent potential misunderstanding regarding the brands Boss and Boss Black, which were being used to market beer and items of clothing.

‘Both parties worked constructively to find a solution, which allows Boss Brewing the continued use of its name and all of its products, other than two beers (Boss Black and Boss Boss) where a slight change of the name was agreed upon.

‘As an open-minded company we would like to clarify that we do not oppose the free use of language in any way and we accept the generic term "boss" and its various and frequent uses in different languages.’

Don’t these guys sound fun!

Following his name change, the comedian published a series of statements on Twitter, saying: 'Just to clarify these are the statements of Hugo Boss, not of Hugo Boss.'

The ywere

• Hugo Boss microwaves fish in the office. 
• Hugo Boss always asks, "what percentage are you on?" before he lets you borrow his charger. 
• Hugo Boss has a smelly bum bum. Hugo Boss doesn’t say 'anyway', he says 'anyhoo'.
• Hugo Boss doesn't flush unless it's his own house.
• And finally: Hugo Boss loves comedy consumer shows that stand up for small businesses who were issued cease and desist letters from multi-national corporations.

Boss, née Lycett’s, Channel 4 consumer show Joe Lycett’s Got Your Back returns this spring.

Published: 3 Mar 2020