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Ever gotten in trouble for plagiarizing? Ever almost been sued because of it? Recently, a UK supermarket owner almost faced a lawsuit after being a little bit too clever with his shop’s name.
Jel Singh Negra has proved he’s clearly a great businessman. For those who don’t know, one of the largest UK supermarket chains is named “Sainsbury’s”. Playing off his own name, Negra named his little shop “Singhbury’s”. What a funny and clever way to promote your own small business right? Wrong. The owners of the large chain didn’t seem to think his ideas were quite as brilliant.
Credit: Twitter
Not only was the name similar, but the sign Negra used outside of his store was almost identical in font and color to the large company’s. Negra was, sadly, forced to take the sign down. Apparently the legal fight has been going on for quite some time as Negra was initially contacted and threatened in 2012. And he’s not done with his teasing yet.
In response to the lawsuit threats and forced shutdown of his business ideas, Negra is rebranding his store once more. This time he’s adopting another large UK supermarket’s name, “Morrison’s”, and morphing it into “Morrisingh’s”. He’s also putting to use similar branding techniques as he did before. C’mon, you have to give the guy a little bit of credit. Absolutely ingenious!
When asked about his new venture, Negra had this to say:
“A lot of customers come in here for the banter more than the actual service.
The sign makes us a talking point.
I do feel that the sign is bringing more business in.
If I get asked to take this one down, I will fight for it.”
And after just one day of posting his new shop design on Facebook, his photo had been shared 10,000 times. If Morrison’s tries to come after him this time, they’re going to have to go through his huge and adoring fan base first. Well, clearly the man knows humor if nothing else.
Want to see more clever ways businesses advertised themselves? Take a look at this supermarket that used soccer jerseys to market their products!
