Sony Bravia ad accused of lifting Play-Doh bunnies idea

Kozue and Dan Kitchens claim that the production company Passion Pictures contacted them almost two years ago asking to see samples of their work, which included an early panoramic featuring different coloured bunnies.

The couple have posted on their blog that they sent samples to Passion Pictures, but heard nothing back from them. Kozyndan accuse Passion Pictures and Fallon of ripping off their work, claiming that it is unlikely they did not have their panoramic in mind when creating the Sony Bravia ad.

Kozyndan said: "To add insult to injury, someone from Passion Pictures contacted us almost two years ago asking to see samples of our work (including this panoramic) as they were interested in working with us. We sent them samples and then heard nothing from them ever again. (It should be noted though, that the more likely culprit is the ad firm who hired Passion Pictures, Fallon)."

Sony has denied there is any connection between the two and that it, Fallon and Passion Pictures conceived and developed the work without any reference to the artists.

"There is suggestion that there is a similarity between an illustration by Kozyndan and the new Sony Bravia 'Play-Doh' advert. Sony would like to stress that the advert conception, creative and final animation is not based on any pre-existing artwork.

"Sony Europe, its agency Fallon, production company Gorgeous, and animation company Passion Pictures, assert that the wave, whale and bunnies were arrived at without reference to these artists," Sony said in a statement.

Furthermore, Sony argued that in the original script the rabbits were one of many creatures to move around a cityscape.

Sony said: "In fact, the location was only finalised shortly before the shoot,"

This is not the first time that Sony and Fallon have been accused of lifting ideas. There were claims that the idea for predecessor 'Balls', the first ad in the Sony Bravia series, was taken from clips shot by the David Letterman show in the 90s when various items including balls and fruit were rolled down the hills in San Francisco.