Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Apple Corporate, iPod Family
Lugz threatens legal action for Eminem iPod ad
This could get ugly. You may remember Steve presenting the Eminem iPod ad at a press conference earlier this month. He seemed really proud of it, and it got a great response from the crowd. The immediate consensus was that it was another winner, right up there with the original silhouette ads. More after the jump.[Via Cult of Mac]
Then the ad disappeared from Apple's site that same day without explanation, only to reappear later, both online and on TV. Last week, Justin Booth-Clibborn (executive producer for Psyop who made the Lugz ad) said that while the two ads were "strikingly similar," he had no plans to "make waves." I thought, like others, that it ended there. I was wrong.
In a report by The New York Times, Executive VP of Lugz Larry Schwartz said, "We're very upset...We think very highly of Apple, [and] we don't understand how this could have happened." While I am able to see the iPod spot as a natural progression of the silhouette ads, the colors and feel of the two are undeniably similar. What do you all think? Did Apple (intentionally or not) cross the line?
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
groth said 7:29AM on 10-26-2005
Unintentional. Apple has never been one to follow the crowd, especially with their ads..remember 1984? the original silhouette ad? Well, they don't follow the crowd if you forget about the intel thing....; )
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Greg said 7:36AM on 10-26-2005
What is Lugz, and should we care?
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Karl Otto Henriksen said 7:36AM on 10-26-2005
This doesn't make sence. Apple should get the rights to make the ad this way before ever starting the work on it. It could not be an acident.
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Goobimama said 7:57AM on 10-26-2005
All these crooks just want money....can't they look at the bright side of things for a change. Maybe they could stretch the limits and ask for a free iPod or something...
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lee said 7:58AM on 10-26-2005
What doesn't make sense is Lugz thinking it owns partial silhouettes on orange to yellow gradients because of an ad. How is their brand damaged? Are urban youth all across america going "Gee, I really need some new kicks; that ipod nano looks like it keeps your feet warm"?
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Asif Alibhai said 8:02AM on 10-26-2005
This is silly. The ad may be similar - and that is something that should be investigated - but the last time I checked, Apple wasn't an ad agency..
At the end of the day, it's up to the guys (and gals) at TBWAChiatDay, Apple's ad agency to spot these issues - and therefore the blame, if there is any, should lie with them.
Unless, of course, Steve Jobs saw the Lugz ad and said 'Give me that. With an iPod.' - He seems like a pretty hard person to say 'NO!' to..hmmm..
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Bigfat said 8:18AM on 10-26-2005
Orange and yellow. Lugz.
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fra said 8:19AM on 10-26-2005
if it was anyone else... I'd tell apple to fight at keep it. Since it's eminem... well, I'd personally like to burn him ^_^.
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Darnell said 9:09AM on 10-26-2005
Didn't Apple do the same thing over the fuse ads. What's the difference.
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Picasso said 9:24AM on 10-26-2005
"Good artists copy, great artists steal"
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Blacky said 9:26AM on 10-26-2005
Uhm, actually I thought that the iPod Ad was really great but the the Lugz ad is like 1000x better... *sigh*.
Compared to that the new iTunes Ad is almost impossible to watch. Everything shakes all the time, is unclear and badly made.
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Bogart said 10:35AM on 10-26-2005
I think despite the visual similarities, the ads have different feels. The Lugz ad is playful in tone. The Apple ad has an urgent and slightly menacing tone.
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drewby said 10:47AM on 10-26-2005
i personally dont think that apple would have done this on purpose. who really remembers *shoe* commercials from a few years ago (let alone from a month ago)? but, you be the judge:
lugz commercial can be seen here:
http://www.psyop.tv/main.php
[after the intro, click on archives, then lugs]
apple commerical:
http://www.apple.com/itunes/ads/
different types of music, and while the color scheme is similar, the lugz commerical is washed out. and in the ipod commercial its all animated/silhouette while the lugz commercial breaks out of that with real pics of the shoes...
[[i appologize if i should not have posted these links...]]
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narco said 11:02AM on 10-26-2005
I love Apple, but they are clearly in the wrong here. I've seen the ads and they are VERY similar -- TOO similar. Hell, it could very well be the same ad. "Playful" or not, I don't think this can be disputed.
Apple should definitely pull the ad permanently. Sure it's great, and yeah it is a natural progression from the silhouette ads, but come on.
If you were the artist behind the Lugz commercial, wouldn't you be upset? I would be furious.
Fishes,
narco.
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tim Rosencrans said 11:34AM on 10-26-2005
you can't copyright style!!!
you can trademark it but since Apple isn't selling shoes lugz can shut the %&*% up.
By the way Apple started it silhouette ads long before Lugz so it seems maybe they were copying Apple.
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Rae said 12:02PM on 10-26-2005
Let's see a company make an MP3 player that looks strikingly similar to the iPod, then tell Apple (after they get pissed) that "you can't copyright style".
I'm sure that'll go over well.
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coal said 12:11PM on 10-26-2005
OMG - when the day comes we can sue because my commercial was the same color as your, we are all doomed, I have made so much money on apple stock I hate when this happens, but in the end it all adds to publicity.
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bunting said 12:44PM on 10-26-2005
wow last time I checked using video of drawings that are orange isn't anyone's copyright. lugz should suck it up...they don't own orange...or animation in commercials with music for that matter. Apple's doing very well and these gentlemen with the workboots want their slice because their ad isn't the only one that's orange anymore. Not similar enough to require legal action at all...maybe a stern talking to...but come on lugz who are you fooling?
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Wheels said 12:44PM on 10-26-2005
"Plagiarism is basic to all culture"
Was Eminem, in the Lugz ad? No. Was the lugz ad all silhouette? No. Is the music the same in the two ads? No.
What next - Disney sues the creators of Mighty Mouse because the colors that Might Mouse is drawn in are too similar to Mickey's? Spuds Mackenzie v. Spot the Target Dog?
Give me a break!
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random said 12:45PM on 10-26-2005
I think it was merely a coincidence. Red, yellow, and orange together are aggressive colors. The ad is designed to feel aggressive. I'm sure Lugz was going for the same feel.
The fact that Apple uses silhouettes in all of their recent iPod ads just makes the two seem really similar. They could totally run the whole thing through an app and change the colors. But silhouette dancers dancing powerfully against green and blue just doesn't hit you the same. Or pink and purple.
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