Fife pub warned over use of popular BBC character Bluey in breakfast promotion

A Fife pub has been hit with a warning from the BBC after it promoted a breakfast event by using the popular cartoon character, Bluey.

The corporation fired off a copyright warning to Foxtons Bar in Glenrothes asking it to remove all references to the character - who is described as a “lovable and inexhaustible six-year-old Blue Heeler puppy who lives with her dad, mum and four-year-old little sister, Bingo.”

The BBC told the pub owner they did not have permission to use it to promote a ‘Breakfast with Disney and Friends’ event, planned for the weekend of February 24-25.

The event is going ahead, but, in a Facebook post, the bar said: “Getting told off by the BBC for trying to run a character breakfast for the kids wasn’t what I expected to come in to today . We may have to replace bluey with another dog, that happens to be blue and may or may not look like a popular children’s TV character.”

Bluey balloon by BBC Studios taking a test flight during 96th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New Jersey. (Photo by Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for Macy's Inc.)

The BBC said Foxtons could not use the Australian character in its promotions. In a letter to the pub, it said: “For the avoidance of doubt, neither BBC Studios or Ludo Studio has given permission to the Foxton Bar and Grill for its intellectual property rights in Bluey to be used to promote meet and greet events with unlicensed Bluey costumes.

“For your information, the Bluey logo, characters and artwork are protected by copyright, which is owned exclusively by Ludo Studio. This is of course of particular concern to us in relation to any event which is catering for children, due to the obvious safety issues and related legislation.

“We therefore must ask that you immediately remove any Bluey references from your events, including any and all social media and please do not do so again in the future.”

Bluey is an Australian children's television show which has been running since 2018 and has a huge audience Down Under and online. It is distributed by BBC Children's Productions. Bluey is among a cast of characters which are all different species of dog. Nana, Bob, Rad, Stripe, Trixie, Muffin, and Socks are also Heelers. Bluey's friends are all dogs.