Rips
I should create a new category here called “Rips,” I’ve been covering copycats so much lately. A link to this article was sent to me yesterday by my boss. The Adfreak piece says that the new Apple video iPod commercial featuring Eminem is a rip-off of a 2001 ad for Lugz footwear . It indeed looks strikingly similar in terms of style and feel. The executive of the agency that produced the Lugz ad said in this article that his firm isn’t planning to “make waves” so this probably means Apple (and TBWA) are safe from litigation.
Related article: Washed Up Superheroes, a post I wrote in 2003 where I wonder whether Steve Jobs is losing his creative originality. The Incredibles, although derivative at many levels (it’s even got a little bit of Spy Kids in it), proved, as you all know, to be light years ahead of any prior works that share the same subject matter.
Update: There’s going to be a lawsuit after all. Lugz itself is coming after Apple.
Tags: Apple, copycat, Eminem, Incredibles, iPod, lawsuit, Lugz, TBWA, video
October 28th, 2005 at 7:00 am
What was it the preacher said over and over again in Ecclesiastes? “There is nothing new under the sun.”
November 1st, 2005 at 2:04 am
So true, Phisch.