So my friend wanted to get a birthday cake for one of our friends birthday this weekend. He went to the mall where there’s this bakery. It’s one of those places in which you can bring in a .jpg, a photo, or whatever, and have it printed on the frosting of the cake.
So he wanted to have this picture imposed on the cake. The picture he wanted to use was of a couple of black girls shaking their bootys, like they do in the rap videos. Our friend would have loved it. There was nothing really distasteful as far as I can see, the women were in bathing suits, nothing exposed, but the lady refused to print it deeming (and paraphrasing), “it does not reflect family values”.
At this point my friend was steamed, as he couldn’t get this custom cake. He was very irate about it and was going off about the constitution and free speech, etc… He should’ve gone back and asked the lady about who’s family values she’s talking about. For some people, family values is a father who’s drunk and beats his wife and children, so maybe they’d print that.
Although I agreed with what he was saying about free speech, I also told him that a business has the right to refuse service to anyone, and I think it includes products they sell. So if they don’t want to print your picture on the cake, then they have that right. He didn’t understand this. I believe I’m right, how can I explain this better to him, and is there a provision in the law somewhere that states the rights of business owners? He’s going on and on about this and I can’t seem to shut him up, he even mentioned a lawsuit. But I doubt it would get that far. If it did, I’d assume a lawyer would think he’s nuts.
Will it shut him up if he can do it himself?
Seriously, I’m pretty sure the business has every right to decide what it will or will not provide for the customer, within reason. A business cannot refuse service because of race, color, creed, sex, age or any other protected category, for example, but it can make decisisions about what it will provide.
"CONGRESS SHALL PASS NO LAW…ABRIDGING THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH.
Congress – not the local bakery – is limited by the First Amendment. By extension via the Fourteenth Amendment, state governments are also limited. Businesses, individuals, and other groups are not constrained in any way.
The Constitution has NOTHING to do with buying a fricking cake.
I doubt if any legal arguments are going to sawy your friend. In fact, I doubt anything is going to sway your friend.
But if you just want him to shut up, try asking him this.
If he has freedom of speech to advocate women shaking their bootys, doesn’t the bakery also have the freedom of speech not to advocate women shaking their bootys? If the Constution gives a person the right to speak up, it also gives them the right to shut up.
And although I’m not a lawyer, I don’t think he has a legal right to demand a business to provide him with a product they don’t provide to anyone else.
The bakery is well within their rights to refuse a custom service. If your friend sues he will be wasting a lot of money.
If you want something like this done you need to have connections. I used to work at a local SuperFresh grocery store and we got the bakers to make penis shaped cakes and all sorts of things as gag cakes for friends. Its not something that they will display in a case, but each baker has different levels of scruples.
That’s pretty much what I thought. For some reason he’s hardcore on this stuff and can be pretty naive about things. I understand what he wants, but others have the right to not want as well.
Nice link Q.E.D., i’ll pass that along. Anniversarys will be fun.
How about a cake in the shape of a jet hitting the World Trade Center? How about making a Jewish baker make a cake with Nazi slogans? How about demanding a cake with poison or a bomb in it? How about telling the baker that you don’t really want a cake and demand that he make you a pan of enchiladas?
Your friend’s attitude is beyond belief. Constitution? Give me a break.
The way I’d explain it is that you’re free to print up your own pamphlet containing whatever message you want and distribute it on the street corner, but the New York Times is not obligated to print your message in the paper, even as an OpEd essay. The New York Times is not violating your First Amendment rights, as they own the press and can make the editorial decision what to publish.
What your friend can do is go to one of those places that put pictures on T shirts and have them put that picture on a shirt with the caption “Blah-blah corporate bakery in the mall refused to print this picture on a cake for me”. They’d probably thank him, as the policy is likely a publicity thing.
Peace,
mangeorge
I’m a cake decorator for a supermarket chain. According to our chain’s regulations, we’re not allowed to “suggestively” decorate, nor print any “suggestive” pictures for a photo cake. That includes pictures of baby butts.
My chain has never stated its reasons, but I presume it’s because such themes aren’t “wholesome”. I’ve never questioned it, nor do I intend to.
BTW, to my knowledge, most supermarket bakeries wouldn’t fulfill your friend’s request. His best bet would’ve been to find an independent bakery. But even then I can’t say whether or not they would’ve done the cake.
It’s a bit of a drive from Chicago, but I don’t think there’s anything thatThe Cake Gallery in San Francisco won’t put on a cake. I’m sure that somewhere in Chicago is a similar bakery.
