During the last season of college basketball, Kentucky’s Anthony Davis made the unibrow popular with sports fans, so much so, in fact, it went well beyond Kentucky fans. In fact, some might say the Player of Year in college basketball took shame out of such facial hair and made it socially acceptable, at least judging by all the “Brow Down” t-shirts that were popping.
Now, not only has Davis brought the unibrow back, he’s trying to make it his, and his alone after trademarking the following phrases: “Fear the Brow” and “Raise the Brow,” according to a report filed by CNBC’s Darren Rovell. And what is young Davis hoping to receive with his newly-granted trademarks? Money. Nothing more, nothing less:
“I don’t want anyone to try to grow a unibrow because of me and then try to make money off of it,” Davis told CNBC. “Me and my family decided to trademark it because it’s very unique.”
Does this mean Davis is the only one in the world to have a unibrow? Of course not. The phrase existed long before he set foot on UK’s campus. He is, however, smart enough to trademark the phrases that have been born out of these mega-eyebrows. Apparently, the fact that t-shirts were being sold during his one season at Kentucky turned him onto the idea, thanks to the efforts of UK’s athletic department:
“We sent a half a dozen cease-and-desist letters,” said Jason Schlafer, the school’s associate athletic director for marketing. “But towards the end of the season, people were getting really creative.”
An example of this creativity:
“I might have a commercial where I’m acting like I’m shaving it and then throw I’ll the razor down.”
While Rovell says this crosses Gillette and Schick of off Davis list of potential endorsers, it does pave the way for tolerance movements because connected eyebrows are not a joking matter. If Davis is involved, it’s clearly serious business.