The Trademark Blog notes that the Pottery Barn is a little upset that Colin Powell’s misattribution of the “you-break-it = you-buy-it” policy. It seems Pottery Barn’s real policy is simply to write down a record of the broken items. This invokes, in my mind, the image of a riotous bull running wild in the shop while teenage employees feverishly attempt to write down the UPC numbers of everything the bull is breaking.
Perhaps the problem arises from the name itself. “Pottery Barn” seems to invoke the image of… a barn full of pottery. Surely such an institution would have a “you-break = you-buy” policy. I don’t think the real Pottery Barn sells much pottery at all, and the stores are certainly no where near any barns. Nor does home wares competitor Crate & Barrel keep any of its products in crates or barrels. If you want a rustic country “straight from the supplier” type image, you have to put up with people assuming certain rustic country policies. If I could get the US military and national news to adopt my trademark in its vernacular (while still identifying the source), I wouldn’t complain.