Nothing is original

22nd Oct 2009 A passion and truth by Mark

Photo by villageidiots

We all do it. We copy. We steal. We pass it off as our own. Perhaps that’s a little strong, but in essence we see something we like, make a (sometimes conscious, sometimes subconscious) mental note and later, when we’re looking for inspiration, it takes us in a new direction, a new style, a choice of typography, a line, a colour palette, a look and feel. By the time your project is over the final result is normally so far removed from the source material that something new and original has been created and the spark that set you off in that direction is long forgotten. The two are so different it’s impossible to make the connection between the two.

In the world of YouTube, Vimeo, Twitter, RSS feeds and design blogs this inspiration is quick to come by. You only need a broadband connection to bring the entire world’s creative output to your desktop. But where is the line crossed from inspiration to plagiarism? Have lazy creatives stepped over that invisible barrier, and too often fallen into the trap of nicking something from YouTube rather than creating an original idea?

A year or two before the Citroen ad with breakdancing Transformers hit our screens, I’d seen this animation created by a college student. The final ad is significantly different, but the original inspiration is clear. It’s not an isolated case, with the hugely popular Sony Bravia ad featuring hundreds of plasticine bunnies causing a lot of controversy about similarities to the work of LA artists Kozyndan.

And closer to home a Sugar Puffs ad was accused of ripping off the “crimping” singing style of BBC comedy The Mighty Boosh. Some aren’t even very subtle about it: see this recent Hula Hoops ad and this precursor on YouTube.

It’s obviously not just restricted to television, every medium is open to it, not least the Internet. Conventions online are a good thing and a foundation of usability, but there is still vast scope to express your creativity within this framework. However, even popular mainstream websites are fair game, notice any similarity between the recently launched New Statesmen website and The Guardian?

There’s a whole website called You thought we wouldn’t notice is... “dedicated to pointing out those things that give you that feeling of ‘haven't I seen that somewhere before?’” and features plagiarized work from all over the world in every medium you can think of. Even Barack Obama has a plagiarized work hanging in the White House.

However, it seems unlikely this practice will ever stop despite the increased power of bloggers allowing these similarities to be more easily highlighted and publicised. Creatives accused of plagiarism will tell you that advertising is supposed to represent popular culture and this is just an extension of that. As long as it’s not a straight up steal, feel free to go ahead. Legally it is something of a grey area too, and there seems to be little consensus on what is and isn’t acceptable.

The answer seems to be down to an individual creative’s own morality and how much they themselves feel they have taken influence from another’s work. But make no mistake, stealing is here to stay and as film director Jim Jarmusch comments, as long as it’s done in the right way it’s perfectly acceptable:

“Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is nonexistent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery—celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from - it’s where you take them to.” ”

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Found in Advertising

Scott

Posted about 11 months ago at 10:36 on 26th Oct 2009

Vodafone Symphonia http://bit.ly/1BXpys seems very close to AKQA's 2008 christmas card http://bit.ly/1WixxO. Plagiarism or inspiration? I'm not sure.

 

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