John-ShepardWe all loved the Kevin Butler PlayStation commercials. But when he showed up in a Bridgestone commercial playing a Nintendo Wii, we were just a little surprised.
So was Sony. And the company wasn't amused.
The good news is that according to MediaPost , the actor who plays KB – Jerry Lambert – and Sony have resolved their lawsuit. As part of the settlement, Lambert admitted that the aforementioned Bridgestone ad may have caused confusion, and he has agreed to spend the next two years avoiding "any other video game or computer entertainment system or video game company." He will also give Sony the heads-up if he plans to endorse a competitor's product.
Sony alleged that its contract with Lambert stopped him from doing promo work for competitors:
"Use of the Kevin Butler character to sell products other than those from PlayStation misappropriates Sony’s intellectual property, creates confusion in the market, and causes damage to Sony."
Well, at least it's all over and done with. I just wish KB would come back to the PlayStation family and do some more hilarious commercials. My favorite is still the Gran Turismo 5 one . LOL
Darn! When clicking on the link for this article I was hoping to read that as part of the settled lawsuit, "Jerry Lambert would be reprising his role as Kevin Butler".
Oh well, at least they left off on good terms, so…who knows what the has in store!?!
With a stick. But i… A stick.
I sympathize with Sony's lawsuit as I think it does create negative confusion but I empathize with Lambert. He's just an actor trying to work. The most surprising thing is that his character and campaign were used so briefly, I expected to see him for years to come. Now he feels he has to stay away from game companies and that's bad news for us.
"he has agreed to spend the next two years avoiding "any other video game or computer entertainment system or video game company.""
It means that he still can paly KB and his comeback will be ps4 ad.
I just saw him in a Bridgestone ad tonight (no Wii).
It's a shame that the KB campaign is finished…can't understand why Sony would end it.
We fans liked it but as I understand things it wasn't very effective.
how do you determine the KB character though?
was he acting as the KB character in that add, or just as his normal self?
gotta feel sorry for him, this is his job, $ony were not hiring him for many adds, he wasent in any adds for months before the bridgestone ad aired.
thought his contract was long finished, it had been so long since we saw him.
_____, I understand that it's a free world and you can say whatever you want here as Ben is a very lenient administrator. However, could you at least use a spell checker and learn how to use paragraphs correctly so people can understand what you're saying, please? Also, a name and an avatar would also help.
Shouldn't you even be in school at this time or is it a P.D. day where you are?
The Kevin Butler commercials were great but they weren't going to convince brainwashed Xbots in the U.S. and the U.K. to stop wasting their money on questionable products. I'll say it again: for the PS4 Sony has to get down and dirty with these people and tell them they are being nickeled-and-dimed by a company that only cares about shoving poorly designed product on a populace that doesn't know any better and whose "core" group consists of foul-mouthed kids borne from horrible excuses for parents who cheat online, pirate games and use every reprehensible slur known to society.