Weren’t you told to be original?

Today we live in the age of abundance. All creators and producers of ideas are challenged on how to demonstrate uniqueness and creative prowess, re-train their thinking and shun mediocrity. Sadly, the number of copycat cases keep proliferating. And once again a case of look-alike, sound-alike, seem-alike campaigns is raising eyebrows within the ad industry. The ad in the spotlight this month is of Al Kazzi nuts, which is believed to be very similar to the one of Krikita brand created in 2016, by Pimo agency to promote the freshness of the product. Although an idea cannot be copyrighted, it goes with no saying that one cannot copy a film dot by dot and sell it to a client as an original idea. The 60-second Al Kazzi spot literally pushed the limit by mimicking Krikita's concept- the idea being a focus on the production process. You need to watch to believe it! All throughout life, we’re always told to be original and never steal ideas from other people. When we come across a copycat case, we tend to say it might be a coincidence, as sometimes the inspiration may have seeped into the creative’s subconscious. If it is pure coincidence that would imply serious ignorance of the original, which is not acceptable coming from professional people who are supposed to have researched work done by the competition. Unfortunately in this case, the Krikita's ad looks like it has been repurposed for Al Kazzi. As a closing point, let's ponder this statement by author Nassim Javed who said, "We are drowning in surplus of overly duplicated concepts and lost in massive copycat clutter. The survival of the fittest is now measured not by being first or big in the marketplace but by being very unique all the way."