Jose Cuervo has been accused of plagiarism by an independent, grassroots immersive theatre collective.
The Inconvenience Store said a recent ‘Inconvenience Store’ pop-up by Jose Cuervo in London to support the launch of its canned Sparkling Margaritas was a rip-off of its performing arts group of the same name, created 11 years ago.
The name “signature green and yellow storefront”, typography and visual assets used by Jose Cuervo were identical to its own, The Inconvenience Store claimed.
Meanwhile, the tequila brand had also activated at Boomtown Fair in 2025, where The Inconvenience Store had featured for the last 11 years, it added.
“For over a decade, our small team of independent artists, comedians, and performers have built this experience brand from scratch,” the Inconvenience Store said on social media. “We’ve earned millions of social media views and operated an iconic main-strip venue at Boomtown Fair, where Jose Cuervo also activated on-site in 2025.”
After it called out the setup, Jose Cuervo had sent a message claiming the similarities were a “coincidence” and had offered to send the collective free sparkling margaritas “as a peace offering”, The Inconvenience Store said.
“Copying an independent arts collective’s entire name, concept, font, and palette isn’t a coincidence. It’s laziness,” the collective said. “When big brands with massive marketing budgets steal ideas from small, independent arts groups instead of collaborating with them, funding them, or simply creating something original, it undermines the entire creative industry.
“To Jose Cuervo and the agency partners behind this brief: you stole from the wrong store. We ask again that you cease from using our brand identity, take accountability, and do better.”
A spokesperson for Jose Cuervo supplier Proximo Spirits UK insisted the brand “did not copy or plagiarise the Inconvenience Store concept”.
“The creative direction for the store came from existing Jose Cuervo brand assets, including the fonts, colours and overall visual identity,” the spokesperson said. “It is the long-standing visual identity and is used internationally across global markets. The store is predominantly green because the product has green livery.”
“We would have only been more than happy to collaborate with the Inconvenience Store as it’s a genuine coincidence that could have created positive publicity on both sides.”
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