Ad Copies the Copy of the Copied Copy of the Copy

talk_talk_copy.jpg

A couple years ago, UK telephone company Talk Talk ran a commercial that used people to form words. This month, a commercial for Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad did the same thing? Some would calls this a form of plagiarism. Others would call it an effective visual element. After all, British Airways did it. Countless others have including out all-time favorite, Carlton Draught's Big Ad, itself, a knock off of the British Airways ad. Certainly these two ads are very similar but are there really any new ideas left? Does it really matter if one ad uses the same visual element as another? Does anyone care?

Written by Steve Hall    Comments (5)     File: Opinion     May- 8-06  
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Comments

Ok, shooting people making objects is so done before but this example is really exactly the same like Talk Talk. They should fire the creatives who made this and install copiers in their place.

Posted by: John on May 8, 2006 10:19 AM

Dears,

Have you read that New Yorker article, "Plagiarism", by Malcom Gladwell? I think pretty much sums up a lot of good arguments about the matter. In a nut shell: if adds something new to the subjet is a good and new look on the matter. If not, than is just a plagiarism.

Posted by: sandro akira on May 8, 2006 10:34 AM

Dears,

Have you read that New Yorker article, "Plagiarism", by Malcom Gladwell? I think pretty much sums up a lot of good arguments about the matter. In a nut shell: if adds something new to the subjet is a good and new look on the matter. If not, than is just a plagiarism.

Posted by: sandro akira on May 8, 2006 10:35 AM

It always comes down to whether the "copiers" saw the original - something almost impossible to prove or disprove. In this case, the earlier spot received so much press and word-of-mouth, it's difficult to believe someone in the agency hadn't seen the original.

Still...there's no way to tell. So it all comes down to faith. Do we have any faith left that the majority of people in this industry won't stoop to thievery? That's the real, very sad question.

Posted by: egoincheck on May 8, 2006 12:31 PM

What about the fact that Gondry did the same exact thing for his video for "Mad World"?

Literally, the same exact thing. Well, different shapes.

I saw Gondry's listed on the Talk Talk credits, so if anyone can explain how Talk Talk gets credit for taking their idea from a pre-existing video, but then another agency shouldn't be able to, fill me in.

Posted by: ripoff on May 8, 2006 12:51 PM

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