Girl Scout question...please read!?

Question

I'm starting a Girl Scout troop, and one of the patches on the front of their uniform is a troop crest. Each troop can pick out their own crest, or symbol, to represent their troop. (such as rose, violet, pine tree, shooting star, green clover, etc...). You can get any of the ones that they suggest in the catalog, but there are only 21 to choose from. Or - you can suggest your own crest, but it has to be council approved. I'd like to suggest the Bald Eagle or Bucky Badger, along w/a few others as backup, but I'd really like to start out w/one of those 2 to begin with. At any rate, I see Bucky being used everywhere on everything, and I'm wondering if you have to get permission to use it or not. And if so, where would I go and how would I go about it? Here's a link for the GS troop crest page and another for Bucky Badger so you can get an idea of what I mean. Bucky Badger is Wisconsin's state symbol, basically. Thanks to all for your help!

http://store.girlscoutshop.org/troopcrests.html

Badgerhttp://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&fr=yfp-t-501&va=bucky+badger+logo&sz=all

Answer 1

Bucky is trademarked, so I don't think that is going to be an option.  However, just a badger would probably be fine, as long as it wasn't obvioiusly Bucky.  A bald eagle would be cool, too.

I can't imagine that your Council woud give you a hard time about a picture of a badger or an eagle. Just ask your area coordinator at Council what the procedure is -- it's probably pretty straight-forward -- submit a picture and get approved.

But -- here's the question:  You say YOU want to suggest the eagle or the badger.  This should not be a leader's choice.  This should definitely be ONLY the girl's choice.  Give them the options, make sure they are aware they could also do a badger or eagle, and then let them vote.  They may all fall in love with the flowers or music notes -- and if they do, that's THEIR troop crest, not yours!

Answer 2

BUCKY Badger is the mascot for the University of Wiscosnin-Madison, though the badger is the state animal. Bucky's likeness is also highly protected by the UW licencing folks and you would need permission to use it even if the council approved it. Another badger picture would be an option, but I don't think you'll be able to use Bucky. Sorry! Bucky rocks.