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The YouTube dilemma strikes again
Advertising, Music Video / Film
Posted by Patrick Burgoyne, 17 July 2009, 10:35 Permalink Comments (19)
German agency DSG has created a nice, if over-long, film to mark the 50th anniversary of the Olympus PEN camera. YouTube commenters, however, have been quick to point out its similarity to an earlier film
The DSG film (above) tells the story of one man's life in stop motion. As is explained on its YouTube posting "We shot 60.000 pictures, developed 9.600 prints and shot over 1.800 pictures again. No post-production!"
However, it does look remarkably like Takeuchi Taijin's Wolf and Pig film
Eliza Williams' piece The YouTube Dilemma from our May issue (which you can read here) discussed the difficulties ad agencies are getting themselves into over YouTube. On the one hand, here is a rich source of ideas to "borrow" and adapt for campaigns; on the other, is the realisation that they cannot get away with simply taking others' ideas for their own use as they would have done in the past.
And this is where Olympus and DSG seem to have got themselves into a pickle. In response to commenters pointing out the obvious debt the Olympus film owes to Taijin's piece, the following has been added: "Some of the comments we have read here suggest that we should mention the creator of "A wolf loves pork", Mr Taijin Takeuchi. While we were looking for a way to realise a story describing "a journey through time" based on printed images, we were inspired by Mr Takeuchi's brilliant work. For this reason we intentionally quoted his work in our little movie while showing full respect to his original idea. We didn't mention his name because we did not want to do so without his prior agreement. However after considering some of the comments posted here we have decided to add credits to him and his work, which we obviously absolutely love."
Hmmm - not really helping themselves are they?
What makes it all worse is that the PEN is a fantastic camera (the original was designed by Yoshihisa Maitani of OM series fame) and deserves better. The Olympus site features this more appropriate and charming film that has the advantage of actually explaining what the camera does - the new EP-1 has interchangeable lenses.
So not only has the agency embarrassed itself by being caught out, it has done so in making a film that doesn't tell the viewer anything about this wonderful piece of kit except that it's 50 years old.
19 Comments
wolf and pig was truly excellent work.
surely they would of thought to approach Takeuchi first?
2009-07-17 12:28:37
Originality is the art of concealing your source.
2009-07-17 13:21:07
Not surprised at all – ad agencies always steal ideas!
2009-07-17 13:57:03
I wonder how many creativity awards this will pick up?
2009-07-17 14:12:48
"We didn't mention his name because we did not want to do so without his prior agreement."
But they felt it was ok to copy his work without his prior agreement. Nice!
2009-07-17 14:55:24
"For this reason we intentionally quoted his work in our little movie while showing full respect to his original idea. We didn't mention his name because we did not want to do so without his prior agreement."
Who falls for that bollocks? They didn't mention his name because they thought they could get away with ripping him off and taking all the credit.
What really annoys me about so called 'creative' agencies is they come across a great idea on you tube, then get somebody else to make it. Why not employ the real creative mind who made it in the first place??
2009-07-17 15:30:15
"They cannot get away with simply taking others' ideas for their own use as they would have done in the past."
Really? What's going to happen to them? An embarrassing blog post won't put a stop to this ...
2009-07-17 18:18:40
There should be a website (if there isn't one already) devoted to comparing original ideas with stolen ones...a sort of "black list blog" for the creative industry. Hopefully the fear knowing people are on the lookout for your stolen idea will discourage such blatant plagiarism.
There are very thin lines that shouldn't be crossed when it comes to "Inspiration". The line between being inspired by the feeling or emotion you get from sensing something (with the eyes, ears etc.), be it a tree swaying in the wind or a great piece of print design...and allowing yourself to be directly prompted to re-create elements which another human being has already created.
What satisfaction is there in reproducing what the world has already sensed...If we are going to call ourselves "creative" we need to be inspired to push ourselves into the realm of the unknown and really create.
2009-07-20 10:49:20
What I was reminded by when I saw the ad the first time was this video from 2004:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2v4nb_sia-breathe-me_music
Copy or similarity. In the global world new and fresh might not be new and fresh to others.
What should matter is the story told and not necessarily the technic or method or effect used.
Otherwise it is a shallow box without meaning, I agree with the last sentence of the article, what about the camera?
2009-07-20 12:31:16
It's a real shame about the Pen Story... and on top the wolf and pig is loads better too.
I hold my head in despair...
2009-07-20 12:36:30
And here's another "case":
http://www.tunisiehautdebit.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=521
2009-07-20 13:14:17
I agree that this is blatant plagiarism.
But is any piece of design/art/music etc truly original in a post-modernist era!?
2009-07-20 17:11:20
Daniel -
There is indeed such a website:
copycunts.blogspot.com
- perhaps you've already paid a visit..?
2009-07-20 18:32:47
"...showing full respect to his original idea"
you mean copying it? i shouldve tried that for copying homework (which i never did) , ' sir i was showing full respect for their original piece of homework'
2009-07-21 13:00:55
ad's copy all the time. Honda cog springs to mind!
If an agency likes a piece of work why don't they get the original director or creator to help them in the process of making the thing?
2009-07-21 15:37:58
In the ("good") old days, they used to try to excuse the plagiarism by calling it an "homage"...
2009-07-21 15:58:34
http://youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com/blog3/
is a good site for ripped off graphics etc.
This seems to happen so much :(
2009-07-21 16:23:31
try these websites for busting copycats http://www.bloganubis.com and http://www.joelapompe.net
2009-07-22 00:49:01
landrover have a very similar ad now, seems to be catching
2009-08-23 23:00:51
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