The Universal Language of Freemasonry - ArchiMeD - Johannes ...

Chapter 8 - Categorization of Rituals 663
the knowledge of the fact that a man in business was a member of the
Order, or likely to become one, brought a most desirable class of
patronage to his door. Members began to resort to a use of the emblems
of the Order in advertising. Even the aristocratic saloon keeper put a
three-link pin conspicuously in the centre of his spotless white
shirtfront, hung up a sheet of pink paper cambric decorated with the
cabalistic letters "F.L.T." or "I.O.O.F.," and talked Odd Fellowship for
patronage. The Grand Lodge heard of this speculation in its symbols,
and promptly enacted a law, the enforcement of which punished those
who used, or sanctioned the use of, any of the emblems, name, or
mottoes of the Order, in the prosecution of a private enterprise. 1631
Odd Fellowship and Freemasonry are not the only secretive societies that
were and are abused for commercial strategies. Another group suffers from
advertisements on its costs: the American college fraternities who, allegedly,
have Masonic ancestry (cf. our chapter 8.5 on sociability). Several clever firms
have used these popular youth associations and their names and symbols for
marketing their products - from shoe companies, producers of cram outlines for
students, to make-up manufacturers. Thus, Paul Rich, professor of International
Relations and History at the University of the Americas, Puebla, Mexico, states
in his paper "Freemasonry and other Secret Ritualistic Societies: Problems in
Inter-Cultural and International Research":
As for the honor fraternities [...], they still retain the Greek and key
motifs of their predecessors, but perhaps the line of descent has become
tenuous. The profane world has intruded. In the early 1950s the Bates
Shoe Company began advertising a line of Phi Bates, but the attorneys
for Phi Beta Kappa advised against bringing suit. Upsetting were the
Fybate Lecture Notes, a commercial venture of cram outlines that
enabled students to pass exams without taking classes. Equally
annoying was a line of Phi Beta panties and brassieres that was
introduced in 1963. A letter of complaint from Phi Beta Kappa was
dismissed with the company's reply that 'I am sure you will agree,
however, that there was no trade mark infringement involved because of
the dissimilarities of the goods and services involved.' Max Factor
makeup followed with an eye makeup promoted as Eye Beta Kappa and
Bloomingdale's opened boutiques its stores under the name of Phi Beta
Caper.
When Cappuchino High School in San Bruno, California, started an
honor society named Phi Beta Cap, Phi Beta Kappa protests fell on deaf
ears. 1632
1631 Stillson, The History of Odd Fellowship, p. 143.
1632 Quoted from http://mailweb.udlap.mx/~rich/papers/phibetadelta.html