Defamation: Inviolable Girl Scouts

The poster showed a gleefully pregnant “Girl Scout” and the familiar motto: BE PREPARED. A sign for the times, perhaps, but the Girl Scouts of the United States of America were aghast. They asked a federal court in New York City to halt further sales of the lampoon by Personality Posters Manufacturing Co. The public, they claimed, might wrongly assume that the Girl Scouts distribute the posters—and that their motto is now a subtle commercial for contraceptives.

U.S. District Judge Morris Lasker has just denied a preliminary injunction. As he saw it, the poster makers had violated no law; moreover, banning the posters might infringe on their right of satirical expression. With a gallant touch, Lasker also reassured the Girl Scouts that their sturdy reputation for virtue would easily survive this “wry assault.” Said Lasker: “Those who may be amused at the poster presumably never viewed the reputation of the plaintiff as being inviolable. Those who are indignant obviously continue to respect it.”