To stop people from impersonating her, Greta Thunberg, the young climate change activist has decided to get #FridaysForFuture movement and her name trademarked.
In 2018, Ms Thunberg’s school strike grew into a global movement that became known as #FridaysForFuture. Millions of people in countries such as Australia, Ghana, Germany and the UK have taken part in the protests.
Over Instagram, Greta Thunberg said, that people had tried to sell products and collect money in the movement’s name.”My name and the #Fridaysforfuture movement are constantly being used for commercial purposes without any consent whatsoever,” the 17 year old said.
Ms Thunberg has also applied to trademark Skolstrejkförklimatet (school strike for climate), the phrase used on her protest sign that she has carried around the world to #FridaysForFuture protests. She added that people had tried to impersonate her “in order to communicate with high profile people, politicians, media and artists”.
Ms Thunberg has become a strong voice for action on climate change. Swedish teen climate activist Greta Thunberg has become the youngest to get the prestigious title of Time magazine’s Person Of The Year .
However, her message on tackling rising temperatures has not
been well received by everyone and is also condemned and criticised by few high
profile leaders and activists. In an incident that happen earlier this month
,US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told the teenager to go away and study
economics before lecturing investors.
Identity theft is a common practice and is used to commit monetary frauds, in name of popular person or a movement or a cause. According to the 2019 Identity Fraud Study from Javelin Strategy & Research, the number of consumers who were victims of identity fraud fell to 14.4 million in 2018.
Of the 3 million identity theft and fraud reports received in 2018, 1.4 million were fraud-related, and 25 percent of those cases reported money was lost. Getting a popular brand name, or a person trademarked is a safe and secure action against such crimes.
The screenshot of Greta Thunberg’s Instagram Post :-
This move by the activist would allow legal action against persons or companies trying to use her name which are not in line with her values or that of her movement. This will also cease frauds being committed in her name.
