Gibson Director MARK AGNESI Slammed For Threats Against Other Guitar Manufacturers Issued In "Play Authentic" Marketing Video - "You Have Been Warned"
June 21, 2019, 5 years ago
Gibson Brands Inc. emerged from bankruptcy protection on November 1st, 2018. In January 2019 they hit the annual NAMM trade fair in Anaheim, CA with daily events, artist performances, Q&A’s, and new product debuts. And now, in June 2019, the company has put Director Of Brand Experience, Mark Agnesi, in the spotlight with a controversial video in which he warns guitar builders over trademark infringement. It received major backlash from the music community and was taken down - presumably by Gibson - but as nothing on the internet is ever really gone, it has been re-uploaded in poorer quality. See below.
In the video, Agnesi warns other guitar brands, boutique or otherwise, against producing forgeries of Gibson design elements:
"To the manufacturers out there, we want you to know that you’ve been warned. People ask us a lot about forgeries and counterfeit guitars, often of lower craftsmanship coming in from overseas, but there’s some common misconceptions about what a forgery is and what trademark infringement is. Any copy of any one of those designs that we’ve named is in fact by definition a counterfeit Gibson guitar."
The video is also available via Reddit here.
And, the backlash:
