Brandjack News

By Quentin Langley

It seems that a Texas plumber has lost significant business when his van – still painted in his livery – turned up in Syria being used by Da'esh, the so-called Islamic State.

According to the New York Times the plumber, whom this blog will not embarrass, sold his van to a dealer who then sold it at auction. It is not clear exactly how it ended up in Syria.

The plumber is now suing the dealer, though it doesn't seem to this writer as though there is much of a case to answer, unless the dealer broke specific undertakings about how the van would be sold or to repaint it. It was the plumber who sold the van with its livery still on. This poses obvious reputational risks as the van could have turned up anywhere. Granted, turning up as part of a terrorist group is both extreme and so unlikely that it probably never crossed the seller's mind. But for the van to be used by a criminal gang rather closer to home was always a possibility. 

Simplest advice: don't sell a van marked with your livery without overpainting it first.