We can appreciate the fact that Apple seems to draw a lot of inspiration from art -- we really can. But we're noticing a pretty disconcerting trend taking shape: Cupertino's getting all Picasso on us with the "Good artists copy, great artists steal" stuff, time and time again knocking off other artists' and creative companies' work in its own products and advertising. Seems a little odd for the company whose mainstay customer is the creative professional, and whose most enduring ad campaign compels us to
Think Different. Let's take a quick look back at some of the lumps Apple's taken for its ads just in 2006 and 2007.
Why, just this weekend we found out Colorado artist
Louis Psihoyos filed suit against Apple for allegedly swiping his wall of videos photo after Apple backed out of negotiations to license the imagery to use in the Apple TV intro video and
branding.
But Mr. Psihoyos is certainly putting up a much harder fight than artist
Christian Marclay gave Apple, with whom he was in negotiations over permission to recreate his 1995 abstract film, Telephones (above), for use in advertising the
iPhone. When Marlay declined, Apple just up and used it anyway, running its own
totally indistinct version that aired during -- what else? -- the Oscars. Marlay abstained from suing.
But it wasn't only artists' work Apple has ganked. Compare for yourself:
Lugz Shoes' Fall 2002 commercial, and
Apple's 2006 Eminem / iTunes ad. (We especially like the
Lugz / iTunes commercial mashup.) Lugz was
highly unimpressed, and sent Apple a cease desist to halt the airing the commercial immediately. Tail firmly between legs, Apple pulled the ad.
And, of course, how can we forget the nearly
shot-for-shot remake of The Postal Service's music video for their hit single Such Great Heights? The band was less than impressed by Apple's swipe, but Cupertino insisted it had no prior knowledge of the music video when it contracted the directorial team of Josh Melnick and Xander Charity to whip 'em up a commercial for the Intel transition.
The thing is, at the end of the day we really like the fact that Apple tries to fuse art with technology -- even in these most literal of cases. But let's get square: nobody likes a ripoff artist, and Apple's got to learn its lesson before the company crosses the line from Pablo Picasso to Elmyr de Hory.
P.S. -Anyone else think it's weird none of this is mentioned in
Wikipedia's article about Apple's advertising?
posted July 5th 2007 12:51PM
Check out the comments in the Digg post about "Apple Intro Video Leaked", I made a comment about how the logo closely resembles the cover of the book "Convergence Culture" - spot for spot, and the book came out way before Apple TV was introduced - they clearly ripped it.
I think Ryans just a little pissed with Apple after Steve said Gizmodo was his favorite gadget blog over engadget.
Little jealous much?
Can I get an Engadget feed without Ryan Block editorials?
WOW ENGADGET, Can't find anything else to rip on Apple about (there is plenty of material)
HOW MANY TIMES YOU GONNA WRITE THIS ARTICLE, STOP REPOSTING THINGS AS NEW WHEN YOU ALREADY COVERED THEM.
first of all, since when does engadget make such hugely biased posts. and also - for those you who are saying stuff like "whoo apple fanboy pwnage" should realize that we're talking about TV ads and art here. Apple makes computers and gadgets. and they do it better than everybody else - so maybe when they start stealing microsoft ads i'll but into this.
Phil, it was pointed out that in some cases Apple was aware of the originals. Furthermore, I also worked at an agency. Does the client usually do the research in question? No. They entrust the agency to, simply put, not screw up. And it's "entrust" because Apple is still the one that is legally responsible if they use something that was apparently a big legal screw up. Frankly, I'm amazed that they haven't canned the agency.
Clearly, you do not know anything about the way business works. You yourself admit your uncertainty on the matter ("I am pretty sure it is..."), so how can you say that others are "throwing out completely factless arguments?" When you outsource something it doesn't mean you outsource the legal responsibility.
Adam, people (i.e. you) often have a horribly wrong understanding of branding. Go do some research.
Anyway, let's consider the first Apple iPod. Obviously, it was not the first MP3 player to come out. Compared to the MP3 players that were available at the time, it didn't have very good audio quality nor did it have many features. What it did have was beautiful product design, a distinct ad campaign, and a cool factor that was validated by numerous celebrities. After 50 Cent rocked it in one of his videos, tech geeks were no longer the only ones at my school with MP3 players. Do not underestimate branding.
I hope they still have the same attitude when the Meizu minione hits the market!!!
Thanks Apple, your mischevious ways have given us something different to think about. lol.
Nay sayers go next... stay tunned
Well, I'm a Mac guy, so I'm ready for the flaming that some idiot will serve me.
Although several of these are valid, it's not like you can blame Apple as a whole. It's just like when any other company has the same problem. One or two people in the company are really unoriginal and get away with it, so everyone blames the whole company. Although that's like blaming Christians for killing Abe Lincoln, because the one guy who did kill him was a Christian.
And as far as the Intel commercial goes, that's like saying that Rockstar ripped off Koyaanisqatsi with their GTA4 trailer. It's an obvious homage because they mimic it shot for shot. It's not like someone expected to get away with that and have no one notice.
Apple couldn't even come up with an original name for their company. They were hacks for go, but that helped start a love for hackers. Apple is just one of the hacker holy relics
As a person who's been working with mac for a while I must say changing from windows to osx is a pain in the ass for power user. NO 2 buttons mouse, the hard ware is unrealiable and a pain to trouble shoot. The key board on the laptop is one of the cheapest kind I've seen tthe os doesn't give me any control over what's going on with my computer and don't even say apple made their own hardware, they buy components fropm other company just like dell and assemble them in China just like any other company. Also quick time and Itunes are a load of shit and I'm tired of apple fan boys blind beliefs in this bull shit. Given they have beautifully design machine but that's about it.
Great designers TRANSCEND their sources. 3rd rate hacks COPY them.
Whoever knowingly made these rip-offs should hand their head in shame. I suspect the advertising company is the one bearing most of the responsibility (and who should show more professionalism than this).
But it still looks bad on Apple regardless of whether they explicitly where aware of these similarities or not.
Clearly Apple has issues with the creative people they hire. I've worked in the creative industry for quite a while now, and I know people rip each other off daily. Creative people surround themselves with the works of others for inspiration, but some of these are so blatant that Apple needs a bit of a smack down here.
It's time to FIRE the existing ad agency, fire the creative directors, and seek out new blood. It's out there. The younger the better. Younger creatives aren't as full of themselves and haven't been influenced as much by the works of others.
Apple, technology ya got down pat. No problems there really, however you've historically had a problem representing yourself to the world. Time to dump the has beens and bring in better people.
Hehe !
Sorry Im french !
Here comes the master fanboy. Nomather what... you will never like Apple. They would even make it exactly the way you want. You woulndt like it right ? Its like a never ending discussion. End of story.
As for the art rippoffs. Ho well. I guess it all started with the Steve saying MS was doing it for Vista. Im a graphic designer and I get my ideas from everywhere. I feed my mind all the time and once in a while it so happens it looks like sombody else work. Boooooo. What a rippoff. But if were else would I get them. (these ideas). Theres tons of Artists out there just waiting to come forward and tell you that they have made this a while back. Including me. After awhile all this soup of ideas just gets shuffled around and comes back in a similar or close to same idea.
Music is a good example. How many notes are there ? How many variations are there ? Is there a limit to music ? Are we going one day to repeat ourselves ? Almost look like we are allready doing it.
Why do we retro ? I would have never Immagine that Houses today in 2007 would have looked like my Grandmothers house, really ? Why are we coping these old Houses Plans ? Why do some cars look like they are from the 1950 ? These must be rippoffs. There all rippoffs right. Music Loops ? Why ? Lets all be artists and make them from scratch ? Why not ? you like to use old stuff ? Why, I ask you ? Why ? I do but why ?
I hope the ripoffs are limited to their advertising...
BTW, fanboys suck. The brand shouldn't mean jack, it should be about the best product for the best price on the market at the time.
Apple's iPod print ads have ripped off or quoted Robert Longo's "Men in the Cities" drawings quite a bit. They are very well known.
http://80.65.232.176/Photos/00/00/05/58/ME0000055825_3.JPG
It appears someone already wrote about this...
It's david byrne. even better.
http://journal.davidbyrne.com/2007/02/21507_iran_inte.html
I'm a "creative professional," the primary target for Apple and its wares. I love the software and the hardware - I wouldn't use anything else....but...
If reasonable, responsible and fair business ethics are rewarded in our culture - there would be no need for any of this conversation. There is no incentive for any company, cool packaging or not, to use or employ ethical business practices. We run with or for the dollar: no one in the corner offices give a damn if some "creative" gets caught in the meat-grinder regardless of their tagline. Words add value in the stock market, the actual practices are neatly swept aside. And you people are surprised at this? Young, old: fresh or experienced - the point boils down to revenue. They (and others) will do whatever it takes to make sure their bottom line stays/grows in the black.
I'm not an Apple fanboy, and I don care to defend Apple. However, if Apple's advertising has ripped off other artists, it's really Apple's agencies who are to blame.
Watch Belief's short documentary called Pollinate.
http://www.beliefdesign.com/work/index.php?section=work&project=07.Experimental
You will see what this blog means.