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Lugz Boots Ad Creators Upset Over New iPod Spot

Tuesday, October 25th, 2005 at 1:20 PM - by Staff

After Apple unveiled the new video-capable iPod, it also took the wraps off the latest commercial created by TBWA/Chiat/Day, the company's longtime ad agency. Unfortunately, the striking spot, which features rap artist Eminem, is very similar to an ad created three years ago to sell Lugz boots, according to industry watchers.

New York Times reporter Stuart Elliott quoted from a statement issued by TBWA/Chiat/Day, which said the similarity in the ad's look was "disappointing and surprising" as well as "regrettable." Mr. Elliott pointed out: "Both commercials show shadowlike silhouettes posed against stylized urban settings, which are rendered in red, orange, yellow and black." The silhouette is Eminem in the Apple ad, while the Lugz boots commercial features an anonymous man.

The earlier ad was created by Avrett Free Ginsberg, whose CEO, Frank Ginsberg, wrote in a letter to TBWA/Chiat/Day: "It is often said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and in most cases I would agree. But sometimes, imitation crosses the line." His letter was shared with reporters.


The new iPod ad

And the Lugz spot

Mr. Elliott spoke with Mr. Ginsberg, who said he was "shocked" by it, noting: "It's the same commercial. I don't get it." Larry Schwartz, an executive vice-president at Lugz, added: "We're very upset. We think very highly of Apple. We don't understand how this could have happened."

While the Lugz boots ad stopped airing in 2002, it is available on the Web site of Psyop, the production company that worked on it, and it was nominated for a British advertising award in 2003. "That suggests it may be familiar to at least some creative employees in the industry," Mr. Elliott wrote.

Apple declined to elaborate on TBWA/Chiat/Day's statement. Mr. Elliott pointed out that clients typically own the commercials created for them, which means Apple and Lugz own their respective ads. Mr. Schwartz indicated that his company will "take all the steps we need to protect our rights."

Mr. Elliott's article also delves into the history of similar ads and how such situations are usually handled.

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Al Swearengen said:

member since 10 May 2005 with 339 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Oct 25, 2005 2:28 pm

In all seriousness this is the first time I have ever heard of Lugz Boots, I guess I need to get out more often. I went to their web site and it looks like they have some nice stuff.

Anyway I saw the ad http://www.lugz.com/timeline/subevent/2002/video.html and I don't think that you can confuse it with an iPod ad.

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A guest said: (hide)

Tue Oct 25, 2005 2:44 pm

Lugz ad:

Color palette, silhouetted person, rap music.

previous iTunes ads

silhouetted person, rap music

Come on, Lugz, get over it. The only thing different between this ad and the other iTunes ads is the color palette and the paint splotches. So Lugz is basically saying that they own that color palette. Give me a break. Sounds like they're hard up for cash.

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stuartea said:

member since 08 Aug 2005 with 327 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Oct 25, 2005 3:31 pm

Upset? That's odd, that's not what the cult of mac said:

http://wiredblogs.tripod.com/cultofmac/index.blog?entry_id=1257268

Anyway, according to the Post, the Lugz ad was created by New York animation house Psyop on behalf of unnamed ad agency. The Eminem ad was made by TBWA, Apple's longtime agency.

The Post reports:

"Justin Booth-Clibborn, executive producer for Psyop, said his firm has endured its share of copycats and there are no plans to "make waves." Still, he admits that even he was struck by the similarities.

"Of all the times that things look like our work, it is the most strikingly similar," he said.

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A guest said: (hide)

Tue Oct 25, 2005 3:43 pm

Oh please... like the Lugs ad. wasn't inspired by the original silhouette iPod adds.

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A guest said: (hide)

Tue Oct 25, 2005 3:45 pm

Apple is in no way at fault here, because they paid TBWA/Chiat/Day hundreds of thousands (presumably)in good faith, to come up with a catchy ad- remember they've been trying to do an ad with Eminem for years. So make no mistake, this is a huge deal to Steve Jobs, and a huge embarassment to him on a personal level. He was very proud of the ad when he showed it at his special event.Some punk(s) at TBWA/Chiat/Day phoned in this campaign, and hoped they wouldn't get caught poaching earlier work. Believe me, the similarities are beyond striking between the 2 ads.

You can bet heads will roll at the ad agency, if Steve doesn't can all their asses first.

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A guest said: (hide)

Tue Oct 25, 2005 3:48 pm

The first time I saw the ADD, I was thinking "This looks familar, I've seen it before." Then I realized it was an ipod add. Then I thought, that looks just like this other commercial that used to be on MTV/BET... Yes the ADDs are VERY Similar... is Apple getting sloppy? Why not just show a real video IP rather than cartoon?

stuartea wrote:
Upset? That's odd, that's not what the cult of mac said:

http://wiredblogs.tripod.com/cultofmac/index.blog?entry_id=1257268

Anyway, according to the Post, the Lugz ad was created by New York animation house Psyop on behalf of unnamed ad agency. The Eminem ad was made by TBWA, Apple's longtime agency.

The Post reports:

"Justin Booth-Clibborn, executive producer for Psyop, said his firm has endured its share of copycats and there are no plans to "make waves." Still, he admits that even he was struck by the similarities.

"Of all the times that things look like our work, it is the most strikingly similar," he said.

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DrShakagee said:

member since 14 Jun 2001 with 941 posts, TMO Forum Mod, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Oct 25, 2005 3:51 pm

I just watched both and besides the color scheme the ads are quite different.

The Lugz ad has the guy constantly shooting out black stuff out of his hands, there is nothing similar in the iPod ad, The Apple ad has M&M singing not break dancing. The details in the city background are quite different if you look at them next to each other.

I think the Lugz ad was fairly innovative at the time and a decent ad, although I could do without FunkMaster Flex. I think the iPod ad is a logical extension to the silhouette ads, I would prefer FunkMaster Flex to M&M any day though.

To me this seems like just an unfortunate coincidence.

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A guest said: (hide)

Tue Oct 25, 2005 4:08 pm

Guest wrote:
Oh please... like the Lugs ad. wasn't inspired by the original silhouette iPod adds.

This was developed in 2002, the silhouette ads came out in 2003.

DrShakagee wrote:
The Lugz ad has the guy constantly shooting out black stuff out of his hands, there is nothing similar in the iPod ad

It's hard to tell in the TV ad, but the "black stuff" is paint, just like the iPod ad, but it's white. You can see it in the print ads:

http://www.lugz.com/timeline/subevent/2002/fall2002.html

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LaurieF said:

member since 15 Jun 2001 with 3547 posts, TMO Forum Mod, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Oct 25, 2005 4:15 pm

Al Swearengen wrote:
In all seriousness this is the first time I have ever heard of Lugz Boots...

That's how it works. This publicising of their upsettedness (neologisms'r'me) is advertising.

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DrD said:

member since 28 Apr 2003 with 41 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Oct 25, 2005 4:46 pm

For all those describing these ads as totally different - hmmm... I doubt you've watched them side by side; choose archive then lugz at:

http://www.psyop.tv/main.php

It seems hard to believe that whoever created the itunes add wasn't copying the lugz one. There's ample similarity , very dodgy. Several heads will roll for this I suspect. Appe really can't be faulted, I don't like Eminem but the itunes add is good, the dripping paint effect is overused in adverts in general but it really works well. Overall, I suspect Lugz (?who??) boots will get more advertising from this fracas than they could dared dream of. Psyop are getting lots of free advertising, mind you their bandwidth on their site will have jumped 1000 fold I suspect.

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A guest said: (hide)

Tue Oct 25, 2005 5:17 pm

Most of you are missing the point. It's got nothing to do with the precise images in the two spots,and all about an aesthetic sensibility. Steve Jobs is all about the unique vision of his products, and is a total control freak. How do you think he felt when he found out, VIA THE MEDIA, that he spent all that ad money, and all the hoopla, on somebody else's THREE YEAR OLD, WARMED-OVER LEFTOVERS.

He is absolutely spitting nails right about now. If you can't see that, you're nuts.

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A guest said: (hide)

Tue Oct 25, 2005 5:21 pm

Heh, it's interesting that first Eminem's song was used without permission, and now that that's all squared away, there's controversey over the ad's visuals. Maybe Apple and Eminem aren't meant to be.

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Al Swearengen said:

member since 10 May 2005 with 339 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Oct 25, 2005 5:25 pm

Guest wrote:
Most of you are missing the point. It's got nothing to do with the precise images in the two spots,and all about an aesthetic sensibility. Steve Jobs is all about the unique vision of his products, and is a total control freak. How do you think he felt when he found out, VIA THE MEDIA, that he spent all that ad money, and all the hoopla, on somebody else's THREE YEAR OLD, WARMED-OVER LEFTOVERS.

He is absolutely spitting nails right about now. If you can't see that, you're nuts.

No I can't see it, but I would love to have a nanny cam hidden in Steve's office.

As to 3 year old, warmed-over leftovers, I never saw the Lugz advert until today. Maybe they only showed it on MTV or some other channel that I surf past.

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macinnerd said:

member since 15 Jun 2005 with 1748 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Oct 25, 2005 5:28 pm

Well, I recall that some other TMOer mentioned that the iRiver ad vas also strikingly similar to the iPod ad. So maybe Lugz should go sue iRiver as well...

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Tiger said:

member since 17 Jun 2003 with 1018 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Oct 25, 2005 7:21 pm

I was the one who posted about the iRiver ad and it is still true. And think about how many things of Apple have been "imitated". It's supposed to be the sincerest form of flattery. Of course, they could sign an agreement with Lugz and digitally remaster the commercial to have Eminem wearing Lugz boots and sell both at the same time.

Sometimes you just have to think outside the box.

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A guest said: (hide)

Tue Oct 25, 2005 10:59 pm

The main difference I see between the 2 ads is that Apple's uses some white in it- streaks around Eminem as he jumps around. The Lugz ad uses only black along with the reds and oranges. Also the Apple ad has a brighter palette of colors. Beyond these minor differences though, the 2 ads do look STRIKINGLY similar. I almost don't see how this could be pure coincidence. Someone at Chiat/Day remembered the Lugz ad and decided it was a good idea. I think they copied it too well though.

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algr said:

member since 07 Aug 2003 with 296 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Wed Oct 26, 2005 2:15 am

Urban sunset silhouettes.

Is three words enough to be infringing? I'm sure that neither of these adds is the first to put these three ideas together. Plus two of the three are inevitable given the subject matter - iTunes uses silhouettes, and of course a rapper would be in the city, and not on a farm. So what's left?

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A guest said: (hide)

Thu Oct 27, 2005 7:22 pm

I've watched the videos side by side. Outside of the reddish hue, the commercials are completely different. It seems that Psyop and Lugz is just hanging on to Apple for free publicity.

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A guest said: (hide)

Fri Oct 28, 2005 6:52 pm

This commercial is THE most generic ad agency rendition of the rap genre and urban culture. All elements in the Apple and Lugz ads are completely different, but somehow wind up looking the same. I'm sorry but that's really ultra hiphop to me!

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