Friday was a big day in the knockoff world. A Chinese apparel company copying the wildly successful Baltimore-based Under Armour made its debut in a high-profile event. Its name? Uncle Martian.
Knowing the risks that such unoriginality would bring, Uncle Martian shrugged off the haters and did it big for their massive launch. The big announcement included everything from a catwalk to a gratuitous crystal ball that is probably its own separate knockoff. Needless to say, the Internet found it hilarious.
https://twitter.com/BCMike22/status/726375041642958848
https://twitter.com/SollloDolllo/status/726410493154435072
Uncle Martian needs to get Seth Curry on the horn ASAP
— Tråvīšßäxtęr (@T_BAX) April 30, 2016
Others were just trying to keep up with such swag. Won’t somebody help this man?
https://twitter.com/lukeusesforce/status/726404980110815232
As entirely amusing as Uncle Martian has been to Westerners, Chinese citizens are pretty nonplussed about the glaringly obvious knockoff that harkens back to that time a massive fake Apple Store was constructed in Kunming, among many other embarrassing episodes of forgery.
According to the New York Times, unhappy customers have used a whole host of rather Trump-esque adjectives to describe the disgusting, unoriginal brand. Sad!
Purely based off aesthetics alone, the Uncle Martian logo doesn’t really make any sense, either. It’s great that designers used a more rosy hue to give a sly nod to the big red planet their apparent abducted relative now lives but stylized and mirrored “u” leaves a whole lot to be desired.
Under Armour has publicly stated it will “vigorously pursue all business and legal courses of action” against Uncle Martian, which means there’s a very limited window to snap up the greatest new knockoff merch before it’s relegated to obscure bazaars and markets around the globe. Because legal action is totally going to stop the great knockoff machine that has gifted us with Sound by Steve, Internet-branded flip-flops, and off-kilter chicken chains. Right.
