Johnny Cash Estate Sues Coca-Cola Over Advert

The estate of Johnny Cash has filed a federal lawsuit against Coca-Cola, claiming the beverage giant illegally used a tribute performer to mimic the country legend’s distinctive voice in a college football advertisement campaign, as Rolling Stone reports.

The complaint, filed Tuesday in Nashville, marks the first major legal case brought under Tennessee’s Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security Act (ELVIS Act), which was enacted in 2024 to protect artists’ voices from unauthorised exploitation. The legislation expanded the state’s statutory right of publicity laws, particularly targeting artificial intelligence deepfakes and voice clones.

According to the lawsuit filed by the John R. Cash Revocable Trust, Coca-Cola has been airing an advertisement during college football games since August featuring a voice that sounds “remarkably” like Cash’s. The estate identifies the vocalist as Shawn Barker, described as a professional Cash tribute performer.

“Stealing the voice of an artist is theft. It is theft of his integrity, identity and humanity,” stated Tim Warnock of Loeb & Loeb, representing Cash’s estate. “The trust brings this lawsuit to protect the voice of Johnny Cash — and to send a message that protects the voice of all of the artists whose music enriches our lives.”

The estate emphasises that whilst they do license Cash’s intellectual property for various projects, including his songs “Ragged Old Flag” and “Personal Jesus” for Super Bowl telecasts, Coca-Cola “never even bothered to ask the trust for a licence” for this particular advertisement.

The complaint alleges that Coca-Cola engaged in “pirating Johnny Cash’s voice in a nationwide advertising campaign to enrich itself — without asking for permission or providing any compensation to the humble man and artist who created the goodwill from which Coca-Cola now profits.”

Notably, the lawsuit does not allege that artificial intelligence technology was used to create the voice imitation, distinguishing it from many cases the ELVIS Act was designed to address. Instead, it focuses on the use of a human tribute performer to replicate Cash’s vocal characteristics without proper authorisation.

The estate is seeking multiple forms of relief, including a court injunction to prevent further airing of the advertisement and financial damages for alleged violations of Cash’s rights under the ELVIS Act. Additional damages are being sought for other related claims.