FedEx Express: New Video Debuts on BrownBailout.com

Business Wire, June 25, 2009

“Brown Bailout” Uses Parody to Expose UPS Efforts to Curb Overnight-Delivery Competition

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- The second video parody whiteboard commercial was posted on brownbailout.com today, with the “Creative Director” diagramming what UPS can do to help its own bottom line and return to the days when it had a shipping monopoly.

The answer? Order up a government bailout. “Presto!” the creative director says in the video. “That’s not just a monopoly on parcel delivery. That’s a monopoly … with UPS.”

The popular parody of UPS’ commercials shines light on UPS efforts to stifle competition in the overnight delivery market, increase prices and needlessly jeopardize the reliability of the nationwide delivery system of medical supplies, critical packages and inventory.

“These videos are a fun way to tell an important truth about UPS’ strategy,” said Maury Lane, spokesman for FedEx. “But it’s no laughing matter that consumers will pay the price for the UPS bailout, and businesses that count on uninterrupted overnight service will be hurt.

“UPS should really go back to that whiteboard and come up with a way to compete fairly without exposing the economy to unnecessary risks.”

FedEx Express began the “Brown Bailout” Education Initiative to inform the public about the proposed law change that could put overnight delivery in jeopardy. Since the initiative started, there have been hundreds of thousands visits to the website and tens of thousands letters sent to Congress.

BrownBailout.com” includes:

• A fact-checker for some of the common untruths told by UPS;
• The history of the Railway Labor Act and why congress created it for companies like FedEx Express “to avoid any interruption to commerce;”
• Quotes from small business owners, employees and UPS itself on the devastating consequences of the 1997 UPS strike and how, if the Brown Bailout becomes law, history may repeat itself;
• An online petition for concerned Americans to ask the Senate to say “no” to the Brown Bailout; and
• Brown Bailout videos revealing the hypocrisy of UPS’s legislative bailout.

For more information and to watch the video, visit www.brownbailout.com.