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Copying Apple: When Is It Considered Ripping Off? |
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 This weekend, while watching the boob-tube, along came a commercial that could've been a dead-ringer for an iPod ad - only it wasn't. Turns out it was an ad for WISE-33, the local NBC affiliate in Fort Wayne, Indiana, promoting their sports coverage.
Unfortunately, I don't have the equipment right now to be able to get video from a TV or VCR, so I'll have to describe it. In the ad, you see all the stuff you would see in an iPod ad: a silhoutted figure (in this case a basketball player) dribbles a white basketball that plays the role of the iPod. The background keeps changing but it's always a single color of the same hue that's used in the iPod commercials. There's even text that almost looks like the exact same font as Apple uses.
At first I thought this was a brilliant homage to Apple and the iPod. The crew at WISE-33 are obviously Apple fans, assuming that they produced the ad. Working with video all day, and having to put together all the footage for the different newscasts throughout the day, that would be no surprise. They probably use Final Cut Pro and a slew of Macs to process all the video.
But then I got to thinking, at what point does 'borrowing an idea' cross the line into 'totally ripping off someone's idea'? I mean, anyone who has worked in design knows that there really is no original idea, just different versions of stuff other people have done. I know I've borrowed ideas from Apple and other places, but I've taken an idea, made it my own, and used it in a slightly different way than the original.
In my opinion, what the WISE-33 ad has done is the Web Design equivalent of taking Apple's home page and slapping their own logo on it. Is it wrong? I don't know. It's definitely nice to know that Apple is about the most copied business in the world, but on the other hand it also seems somewhat Microsoftian: taking what someone else has done and using it for your own purposes without changing it at all (or in MS's case, changing it for the worse more often than not).
Many people reading this probably haven't seen the commercial, but what do you think about this sort of thing? What constitutes thievery and what is simple borrowing of an idea? |
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February 9 2004, 9:56 AM EDT, by
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Comments:
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| rkuite |
2/9/04, 11:06 AM EDT |
Likewise, Howard Dean is running a series of Ads that are a direct take off of the Apple Switch ads.
It is interesting how many regional ads are basic ripoffs (across the board and not just Apple Ads) of other national campaigns. It is curious that this seems to be tolerated.
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| rlhamon |
2/9/04, 12:15 PM EDT |
I think for Apple it's a showing of flattery. Apple knows that their marketing groups is doing a great job when people are copying there designs and it's a conformation that people are noticing the adds that Apple is paying money for and producing.
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| scott |
2/9/04, 2:06 PM EDT |
I've seen a Rooms-To-Go ad that "borrows" from the iPod ads as well.
My take is that if it makes people think (as I did), "Hey, that looks like an iPod ad," then it's good for Apple -- almost like free advertising for them.
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| KenC |
2/9/04, 2:51 PM EDT |
It's a double-edged sword, for those who know Apple ads, seeing a copycat, triggers recognition for Apple, but for those who live under a rock, seeing the copy garners no benefit by association. Seeing as the copycat has no idea whether its audience knows Apple ads, it must be concluded that the copycat is just ripping off Apple's signature style.
I recently saw an ad for some eczema cream, called something like Elisil?, which seems to copy the appearance of the superhero, in the upcoming Pixar look of The Incredibles.
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| stickman67 |
2/9/04, 6:48 PM EDT |
Taking your idea a step further, KenC, it's also possible that anyone who's been living on the planet Venus for the past couple of years might even think in their ignorance that Apple is ripping off the copycat!
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| sweetjimmyhugs |
2/9/04, 9:14 PM EDT |
Everyone copies everyone. I havn't had an original idea since I was born, but everyone I know says that I'm "the coolest" and the ladies say "I want to have his baby."
When it comes to pop culture there is no originality. Just look at the band Creed. They sound an awful lot like Pearl Jam. Then there are those oatmeal raisin cookies, they intentionally try to make you think that they are chocolate chip cookies, and then bam! you have raisins in your mouth. No one says anything about that...
When all is said and done is someone going to say that WISE-33's sports ad hurt Apple in any way? Probably not. I say let it be, there are many more things out there to try and stop... like circus people, for instance. They're crazy with power!
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| Buzzy Beetle |
2/9/04, 11:26 PM EDT |
I find it sad that these days intellectual property has lost is meaning and is even seen like a bad thing by a certain part of the population. The word invention is now often replaced by "discovery" in most people minds. And even then discovering something is seen as just finding something the others didnt find (yet), like it would have been found anyway. I would think that people who fall into this mindset generally don't have original ideas themselves and feel that the "scientists and geeks" are greedy and hold back their ideas for themselves. I can agree that intellectual property can have its adverse effects, for example I would be for some kind of exclusion regarding pharmaceutical patents on medecine that could help mankind. Also things like patenting genes or web hyperlinks is ridiculous.
As for the ad (gotta get back on the topic) I think it was more of an hommage than a rip-off, also this ad is only locally broadcasted so I don't think it'll bring national confusion about it.
Then again, maybe we could ask the iPod ad creators how they feel about it. I would think they are cool with it and thats what's important.
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| rlhamon |
2/10/04, 2:34 AM EDT |
I hate raisin cookies. But man I just don't know what it is about carney women but I an just attracted to them. sometimes I just want to pay my three dollars and eat their cotton candy ... umm
So no way with circus people man they have me under their spell.
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| stickman67 |
2/10/04, 6:41 AM EDT |
Do you mind if I scratch? Or is that a wig you're wearing?
Is that you, nurse? I appear to have left my eyes in my other suit ...
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| Jonahan |
2/10/04, 7:34 PM EDT |
I have to agree with the general consensus, which is that it's generally an homage to Apple and not really hurting them in any way. Were this a bigger ad campaign or if they were selling a product, it'd be a bigger deal.
As for the carneys, other than the small hands and smelling like cabbage, they also bug me out with that thing they do with their false teeth. And as for clowns, have you ever seen an 'off-duty' clown in a supermarket or something? Freaky man.
Stickman, here have some homemade cotton candy sprinkled with Lyso-Dysergic Acid. It'll make everything all right again! Just stay away from carneys and clowns ....
=)
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| stickman67 |
2/10/04, 11:09 PM EDT |
The truth is out there, dude.
No, like, I mean it's really, really *out there*!
Now get these freakin' ants off me, man! They're crawling all over my skin ...
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