20 copycat ads
It’s amazing how often crowd sourcing takes just minutes to turn an ad that looks startingly creative at first glance into something, erm, less original. Sometimes it’s coincidence, sometimes the inspiration may have seeped into a creative’s subconscious. And sometimes it looks like a smash-and-grab raid. Here, we offer Mumbrella top 20 copycat Australasian ads.
1. Jetstar versus Estrella Damm beer
The Jetstar ad has just started airing in Australia. It marks a new creative direction for the budget airline. It’s a creative direction already taken by a beer brand – including the same song, burning furniture, boat trip and love story. The centrepiece of a wider campaign, the airline tells Mumbrella it sought the blessing of the 0verseas agency before creating the “homage”.
The original:
The copycat:
2. Optus “open network” versus Sprint “now network”
You’ve got to love stats. Optus does. Particularly when talking up its network – much like Sprint.
The original:
The copycat:
3. Optus versus Comcast
Another US telco, and another Optus coincidence.
The original:
The copycat:
4. Target versus Oren Lavie
If it’s art (or a music video in this case) is it fair game? Target seems to think so.
The original:
The copycat:
5. Kellogg’s All Bran versus The Simpsons
In a similar vein, it’s pretty obvious where the idea for the Kellogg’s All Bran ad came from.
The original:
The copycat:
6. ME Bank versus Tango and British Airways
If an ad is accused of copying more than one other ad, is it a genuine copycat? It would take a pretty mad scientist to attempt to crossbreed two classic British ads of very different genres. But the similarity is startling…
The originals:
The copycat
7. There’s Nothing Like Australia versus The Discovery Channel versus Mickey Mouse:
And here’s another example of an ad that got accused of feeling like more than one thing. Actually, we think this one was coincidence. But we present the evidence nonetheless. You decide.
The original:
The original:
The copycat:
8. Nine Network versus The Discovery Channel
And Discovery Channel should feel flattered. It has more than one imitator. Or in Nine’s case, utterly shameless rip-off merchant.
The original:
The copycat:
9. Nine Network versus Nickelodeon
And Nine’s promo team appear to be either serial offenders, or the victims of unfortunate coincidences, as the spot for The Block looked pretty familiar too.
The original:
The copycat:
10. Seven Network versus DDB France
Nine, aren’t the only offenders. Perhaps because they were asked to produce about a million promos ahead of the X Factor launch, not every one from Seven’s promo team looked entirely fresh.
The original:
The copycat:
11. Dunlop Volley versus The Weak Shop:
A wacky spoof campaign for Dunlop Volley shoes sure looked like it had started life elsewhere.
The original:
The copycat
12. TV3 NZ versus Playstation 3 (Hat-tip: Bannerblog)
TV3 was perhaps lucky that Playstation had a sense of humour about this one. One word: plagiarism.
The original:
The copycat:
13. Paul’s Milk versus Water Magic
You name the product and there’s probably a copycat ad. Even water copying milk.
The original:
The copycat:
14. Australia Post versus i-Ball (Hat-tip: Kapil’s Corner)
And it’s not just TV ads that inspire copying. Australia Post’s powerful branding has its imitators too.
The original:
The copycat:
15. Visa versus Hula Hoops:
A few years ago, few enough people had a copy of the D&AD Annual in Australia that people probably wouldn’t notice a spot of borrowing. Now the internet’s here though.
The original:
The copycat:
16. Grazia versus Australia’s Next Top Model
Models? Check. A racecourse? Check. A photo finish? Just don’t ask Sarah Murdoch to declare the winner
The original:
The copycat:
17. Meat & Livestock Australia versus a birthday card
Sometimes the oldies aren’t goldies, as this radio ad demonstrates.
The original:
The copycat radio ad:
18. Suzuki Alto versus Trainspotting
Choose unoriginal copywriting for a bland car that’s the opposite of the message of the movie.
The original:
The copycat:
19. MV Beer versus Truth (Upside Down)
When a McLaren Vale brewer looks at classic Argentinian political ads this is the result.
The original:
The copycat:
20. Lipton Ice tea versus Fatboy Slim (Hat-tip: @MarkScruby)
Can Hugh Jackman outdance Christopher Walken? Let’s hope so, because it’s the only distraction from this remarkably similar ad to the video for Weapon Of Choice. They even have a similar taste in luggage trolleys. Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and call it a “tribute”.
The original:
The copycat:
Can you think of any we missed?
Add the links to the comment thread, and we’ll update the list.
Tim Burrowes
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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topics
ads
Advertising
Australia Post
British Airways
copycat
DDB
Discovery channel
Grazia
Hugh Jackman
Jetstar
Kellogg's
Lipton Ice tea
ME Bank
Meat & Livestock Australia
MLA
Nickelodeon
Nine
Optus
PlayStation
Rescue Special Ops
Seven
Simpsons
Tango
Target
There's nothing like Australia
Tourism Australia
TV3
Visa
Some copycats or ‘appropriations’ have become clichés.
And these are even more easy to spot.
I’ve got my own little collection here at http://www.cliche.posterous.com – there’s over a hundred of them.
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sure, the hugh jackman ad was obviously inspired by fatboy slim’s add… but godamn i love it… catchy song and the man. can. dance.
besides – CH9 did a direct lift of that song with fatty vauting and eddie etc.
they also ripped off micheal buble’s spiderman video for a network promo
once again: Channel 9… you suck.
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Was the Jetstar ad just pulled down ; (
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Saw this Cash Converters ad at the cinema on the weekend.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AEuxQkGA_4
Total copy of the Seven idents from 2003, right down to the flying ribbon at the end!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gj5iLC9OUro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TliTuVgSp2Q
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Some of them are not even close. You could also go through everything ever made and claim it was a copy based on some of these loose links.
Also this seems poorly researched and pretty basic. I can think of at least 10 major campaigns that have been rip offs, but I think you wouldn’t post them.
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The problem with nine is that their british creatives don’t get the Australian sense of humour.
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The infomercial ones(volley close call etc) both launched basically in the same week. So to call them copying is ridiculous. Unless they caught wind 3 months before that they were planning the ads and decided to invest a boatload of cash and time into annoying someone else.
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Listings like this one would be of far more interest if the “creative” people who came up with the copycats were named and shamed.
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you forgot the horrible cereal ad and the uncle buck “I’m a kid” knock off.
i think it was a cereal ad. I was too busy cringing to remember the advertiser.
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Sorry tim, big fan as you know.
But am not sure it’s all that fair to say our ad is a copycat ad.
The original inspired us. And we talked to the Spanish agency that created it through our process. We’ve tried to be open and honest with out homage.
It also refers to two scenes out of around 70 we have used in our whole campaign(I don’t think Estrella damm have originated love stories) .
The fundamental creative platform of multiple stories being connected through flight is a very different idea than young couples enjoying their beer in the sun.
You’ll find the 30s on our website and notice only the connection of a song we love too.
I think all this is very different to copying somebody else’s ad.
Best. As ever.
Dave
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Can’t believe you missed the Sony football Ad that copied the Adidas Beijing one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwcTnhhSbYw – Sony https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cT12oIA7HZ0 – Adidas from two years earlier
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Awesome article Tim
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http://www.youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com/ has always been anonther great resource for blatant ripoffs, TV, design etc… Looks like it’s down at the moment, but keep an eye on it, hopefully it comes back.
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David May is right in saying there’s more to the campaign than a straight knock-off. I’ve invited him to write a guest post over the next few days with the full story.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
Didn’t North Korea do that BA ad, like 50 years ago and been doing it every week since?
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Tim you are way off. That post office one is hugging the girl from the other side. Like dave said, how can you consider that copying with such a huge difference as facing the other way!
Off your rocker son
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Big News- there are no new ideas in advertising. Interesting and funny article, but I don’t think the creative’s behind these are stupid or bad at their job, in fact they’re smart. They’re down at the pub having beers while the others are banging their head up against the pinball machine trying to think up new ideas.
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Target vs Coldplay ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYtk1Z0UUuE&playnext=1&videos=poqmTGIP2x4&feature=artistob
and isn’t Carlton draught’s Big Ad borrowing a little from the British Airways ad you’ve featured here ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mv5U0W8FDDk&feature=fvst
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Creativity doesn’t exist in a vacuum.
Yes there are very blatant copies and rip offs BUT is any creative (beyond a God) really unique?
We’re all influenced by someone else’s ideas and work in some way – it’s called “best practice” (or lazyiness)
It’s how we integrate and implement what we do that differentiates.
Innovation is great, imitation is faster.
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This is creative getting forced by the barrel of the chequebook of a company to deliver ‘something like the “insert brand” ad’.
Great Article Tim
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Some of them are clearly spoofs and i’m not sure if ANTM is really a copycat per se
Having said that the Lipton one annoys the bejeezus out of me. Doesn’t relate to the product, make me feel happy or refreshed. I watch passively and wonder what a dancing Hugh Jackman has to do with iced tea.
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Product. Music. Outfits:
Taxi’s Beer ad:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RV-hNQlBqDA
Carlton Big Ad:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GY6uJlI-t14
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Sigur Ros have a great collection of ads ripping off their music:
http://www.sigur-ros.co.uk/med.....romage.php
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How about these two remarkably similar executions for men’s hairstyle products – Moosehead vs VO5.
Moosehead Original (AU):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxhvqWaw9vM
VO5 Copycat (UK):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx6C8_ZKno4
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Hmmm… What I want to know is: Did Mumbrella copycat his article from the hundreds of other similar articles on copycat marketing?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new.....aigns.html
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Here’s the links to the Jetstar ads…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvM_4cWlSrs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lksbTkgZKZw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3GMp3jw9YM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAwQltGuyhY
It’s kind of like a double “homage” …
Estrella Damm meets Bunnings Warehouse: “low fares are just the beginning”
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Nike World Cup Football ad:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KNKxdxkhBc
and the recent Aussie rip off:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3CuHr0Ra9E
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Tim, your readers might like to know that the music featuring in the Jetstar/Estrella ad is entitled “Apple Jack” by Melbourne band The Triangles. The only reason I know that is because I first used the track in a TVC way back in 2006 to promote the Melbourne Commonwealth Games. The Director was legendary Clemenger producer/director the late Maurie Dowd.
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Re: Ron Jeremy. Call me crazy – I can’t see the similarity between those links and the Estrella Damm clip. They look nothing like each other…
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“Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery – celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from – it’s where you take them to.”
— Jim Jarmusch
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Very interesting post. I am happy that more professionals are highlighting a fact that is damaging the creative industry. Copycats were only whispered about in the past few years, today there are many websites that reduce the level of the creative crimes by a process of name and shame. here are a few for your reference. http://bloganubis.com/
and http://www.joelapompe.net/
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The original:
http://92.48.74.21/cr-blog/200.....be-dilemma
The copycat
https://mumbrella.com.au/20-copycat-ads-34855#more-34855
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There might be copycats but I prefer to focus on the new ideas, of which there’s plenty (mostly more).
It’s really quite sad that some industry participants who are paid to come up with new ideas can turn some of this stuff out (and convince a client, hand on heart, that it’ll work).
It’s also a reason why I get mad when truly original, trailblazing ideas get slammed (and usually from within the industry) with comments like “but did it sell anymore X?”
Sometimes I do wonder how much of the client might be in the background saying “I saw this really great bit of communication and I reckon it’d work for us….”, although that raises an even more upsetting idea, along the lines of prostitution.
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I think the jet star version is much better than the original. Obviously it was in the hands of an incredibly talented and attractive man!
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Nice list of ads. Some are direct copies but I think some are just co-incidence.
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Foxtel NRL kid in studio/ESPN kid in studio: USA
Telstra T-Hub/Futurama: USA
Foxtel Happy EOFYS/Virgin Mobile Happy Chrismahanukwanzakah: USA
One ‘hot’ agency really likes one country’s work.
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@David@luvyawork,
I agree with you on paragraph 2.
However, I get mad when people who are paid to produce results for clients get mad when people ask them to actually give some sort of indication that it had a beneficial effect. There’s a word for pure creativity: art. It’s what you do if you’re creative but don’t want to be paid for your job.
Regarding the client asking people to rip off someone else’s work, there’s a solution for that too: saying no. If being a decent human being isn’t enough justification, then raising the idea of legal trouble should be.
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There are any number of instances where it’s pure coincidence that creative people come up with exactly the same idea, no matter how ‘out there’ it is; tutor AWARD School and you’ll see it happening every week.
I did a KFC ad back in the 80s that used a range of hands in gloves, walking down a runway to a dance music track while posing and modelling watches that KFC were giving away with purchase, which predates the Hula Hoops ad by about 25 years; the creatives who did the latter ad were probably in nappies then, so it serves to demonstrate that the same ideas/executions CAN occur in complete isolation.
Still, as a creative, it’s impossible not to borrow from other sources, however innocently; our jobs involve reading, watching, listening to and discovering new design, music, writing, film etc, and things lodge in your subconscious, well, unconsciously.
Having said that, here’s another contribution to the ‘inspired by’ debate:
The original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBXr15K2uSc
The ‘homage’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21lUkIHRrNw
Of course, some of the ads here are blatant rip offs – the TV stations seem to offer the most unashamed of them – but when briefs are very similar (even if the product isn’t) it’s not really that surprising when people come up with similar ideas and executions.
Finally, it does rather bemuse me that people hold advertising up as the bastion of all that is fearlessly, famously original and fresh, when as an industry we rarely start trends, merely reflect them. As one commentator posted previously, this ain’t art: while our output may occasionally approach something truly inspiring, unique or artistic, our art is simply that of persuasion – by means both fair and, unfortunately, foul.
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re the famous presidential ad (and copycat beer ad) in #19 spot… There’s another direct ripoff of that ad. It’s for the completely useless “Tasmania Together” project.
The organisation is a joke and the fact that it even rips off its ads shows just how lame it is. The ad has been running for weeks on local tv. The link to the ripoff:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvuG3JaLgWk
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What’s sad is most copycats copy the same tired excuse:
“There’s nothing new under the sun”
“Everything’s been done before”
But what’s sadder are people who don’t get the difference between an idea and an execution call things a rip-off.
“Oooh they used a bunny in a commercial five years ago”
“Yes, but it’s a different idea. In this idea, the bunny dies, and then we see a pack shot with Viagra written on it, not a cute fluffy bunny with a battery stuck in its bottom”
“Yeah but the bunny’s been done”
“Shut up junior paper-shuffler”
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