Apple accused of ad rip-off in Eminem iPod campaign

by Ben Bold, Brand Republic 31-Oct-05, 09:00

LONDON - Apple is being accused of ripping off another ad for its new campaign for iPod and iTunes, which stars rap star Eminem singing 'Lose Yourself'.

Lugz, a US-based footwear manufacturer, claims that the Apple ad is "practically identical" to a spot it ran in 2002.

The Lugz ad, which used a hip-hop soundtrack by Funkmaster Flex, featured a black silhouette of a man dancing in a stylised urban environment made up of bright oranges and yellows.

The current iPod ad uses the song 'Lose Yourself', taken from the soundtrack for Eminem's movie '8 Mile' and features the dark silhouette of Eminem. Again, the protagonist is set against a brightly coloured backdrop of orange and yellow.

The Lugz spot was created by Interpublic Group's Avrett Free Ginsberg, although the agency no longer works with the client. However, group creative director Rory Braunstein, who worked on the campaign, admitted that he had "never seen so many similarities in a spot".

Larry Schwartz, a principal of New-York based JSSI, which owns Lugz, said in one report: "The total look and feel of the spots is practically identical."

When the video iPod was unveiled at a press conference last month, Apple chief executive Steve Jobs trumpeted the ad. "We've been known to do these silhouette ads and we've been working on one for the last two, two-and-a-half years that we've always dreamed of doing, and finally we've been able to do it," he said. "It takes our silhouette campaign to a whole new level."

The row brings the thorny subject of intellectual copyright to the fore in the ad industry once more.

However, Lugz is unlikely to take legal action against Apple or its creative agency TBWA\Chiat\Day because it is very hard to prove that intellectual copyright has been infringed.

In the 90s, Irish agency Arks was taken to court over a Guinness ad featuring a man dancing around a pint of the stout.

The agency had originally approached film director Mehdi Norowzian to ask if it could use an idea based on one of his short films. He refused and Arks went ahead and filmed the ad. Norowzian sued but lost the case because the court ruled there was no substantial copying.

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