WICHITA — You’ve got to give Tom White Jr. credit. The general manager of Suzuki of Wichita knows a good idea when he hears it.
There’s one he’s not allowed to use anymore, though.
White “borrowed” a catch phrase from CarMax, and — through its attorney — the company has asked him to stop using it.
“We steal ideas from everybody,” White says.
“We’re just not that smart,” he says, laughing.
White says he didn’t purposely steal CarMax’s slogan: “We’ll buy your car even if you don’t buy ours.”
He admits to checking out what competitors are doing, though, and perhaps letting their copy seep into his own.
CarMax, though, has that phrase trademarked.
“Now, we say, ‘Don’t want to buy one of our cars? We’ll still buy yours!” White says.
He’s not sure if that’s trademarked or not.
“I should be in the clear.”
White didn’t mind the letter.
“It’s fun to stir up the pot,” he says.
White admits he would mind if someone locally “borrowed” his “Ride home happy” slogan.
Again, though, he admits, “I’m sure we stole it from somebody. We just got the website before they did.”