Wednesday, June 11, 2008

And yet more adventures in advertising

At a loss for a post, as yesterday's one shows, I knew I could fill the gap with yet another little advertising rant. I'm never short of ad rants. It was that or write a post expressing my disgust at just what has happened to Battlestar Galactica, a once-proud show that has now crapped its pants and everyone can see.

So I went with ads.

I'm sure everyone who makes ads sees this happen on a regular basis. I can't count the amount of times I have been asked to rip something off, the more direct the better. I have contributed to some godawful shameless rip-offs for people without a shred of creativity, and yet have 'creative' written on their business card.


I've also known several production companies to get hauled up on these rip-offs and, for some bizarre reason, they don't instantly point the finger to the ad agency. Why not? Those of us in the business know how it happens.


There's a good website on rip-offs here - You Thought We Wouldn't Notice


I'm lucky to have escaped being featured but I know some people who have made it on to that site, and with good reason. Having dumped ad work, I'm hoping to leave the rip-offs behind me.

1 comment:

Mr. Trombley said...

Dear Sir, I actually know this one. Before YouTube, advertisers stole from magazines of stills called fumetti, which is the Italian word for comics. For unknown reasons, these types of comics were very popular in Italy, thus the word choice.

Here are some examples:
http://cgi.ebay.com/1964-OUT-OFTHE-MOUTHS-OF-BEATLES-Dell-fumetti-book_W0QQitemZ220141066824QQihZ012QQcategoryZ53255QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/DIABOLIK-269-DESTINO-DI-MORTE-Il-Giallo-a-Fumetti-1st_W0QQitemZ250243803894QQihZ015QQcategoryZ29223QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/BLUE-JEANS-PHOTO-COMIC-UK-FUMETTI-BRITISH-GIRLS-ROMANCE_W0QQitemZ360053679803QQihZ023QQcategoryZ77QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem

Here's some with mostly original content:
http://cgi.ebay.com/THE-MARVEL-FUMETTI-BOOK-1-VF_W0QQitemZ290231154171QQihZ019QQcategoryZ77QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/HELP-Harvey-Kurtzman-Like-MAD-Magazine-May-1965-Rare_W0QQitemZ220243137912QQihZ012QQcategoryZ280QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem