A Well-Intended Rip-Off’s Still a Rip-Off, Frankly

  • 1 min read
awareness-test.jpg

Check out this “Awareness Test” for Transport of London. The goal is to demonstrate that a driver can’t avoid obstacles s/he doesn’t expect to see. For people who’ve never seen the video before, it probably comes across as a neat way to deliver the message.

The problem is, there are plenty of people who have already seen something similar — likely this video, which was put together in 1999 by Professor Daniel Simons of the University of Illinois.

The videos sparked a copyright debate between WCRS and Professor Simons. He said he liked the goal of the campaign, but would have collaborated with the agency to find an “awareness test” more appropriate to their purposes if they contacted him instead of just ripping off his idea.

The debacle was put to our attention by Scamp, who in closing asks, “if the goal of the ad is to save lives, as in this case…. should we really feel so bad?”

Picture of Steve Hall

Steve Hall

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