The following is an article from Tampa Bay Online:
Yabba-Dabba-Sue! Hulk Hogan files suit against Cocoa Pebbles maker
TAMPA – Hulk Hogan is going to the mat against The Flintstones.
Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, is suing the maker of Cocoa Pebbles, accusing the company of appropriating his image in commercials for the cereal.
In the “Cocoa Smashdown” commercial, a cartoon character resembling Hogan easily beats Fred and Barney inside the ring. But then Bamm-Bamm steps in and pounds the blond-haired, mustachioed wrestler to bits.
Hulk, the federal lawsuit states, “is shown humiliated and cracked into pieces with broken teeth, with the closing banner, ‘Little Pieces…BIG TASTE!'”
The commercial character goes by the name “Hulk Boulder,” which Hogan’s lawsuit says is a name he used early in his career until wrestling promoter Vince McMahon decided he should have an Irish name.
The lawsuit says Post Foods never sought or received Hogan’s permission to use his likeness to promote the cereal. Hogan says he raised his objections with Post in August, but the ads continued.
Hogan says he is marketing his own products, including the Hogan Energy drink and Hulkster Burgers, a line of microwaveable hamburgers and chicken sandwiches sold at Walmart.
The wrestler contends he has been harmed by, among other things, “the unauthorized and degrading depictions in the Cocoa Smashdown advertisements.”
A Post spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment.
