Small-time artist vs McDonalds – spot the difference

By Paul Smith

Following our curious tale of how a Bitterwallet reader’s Flickr image ended up on the BBC without permission, reader Davey has commented on its similarity to another story from last year. You Thought We Wouldn’t Notice is a website dedicated to the feeling of deja vu you suffer when recognising your own (uncredited) ideas in another’s work.

An artist called Cryiak posted a story concerning a Terry Gilliam-style animation he’d made several years ago of Charles Darwin emerging from his own beard, over and over again. You can see it on Cryriak’s own website and on YouTube amongst a compilation uploaded in October 2006, where it’s been viewed by over 2.5 million people.

Then last summer, Cryiak learnt of a Swedish advert for MacDonalds which, you may not be entirely surprised to hear, had more than a whiff of the beards about it. See for yourself on YouTube.

When you compare the two sets of animation side by side, you also notice the animation loop is exactly the same duration. According to Cryiak, the advertising agency DDB claimed it was “absurd” to even suggest they may have copied his work. More interesting is when one of the people allegedly responsible for the ad begins rubbishing the similarity in the post’s comments. Oh dear.

Tags: charles darwin, ddb, mcdonalds
Posted in News February 11th, 2009 | 6 Comments

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 11th, 2009 at 6:01 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

6 Responses to “Small-time artist vs McDonalds – spot the difference”

Posted by David | February 11th, 2009 at 8:23 pm

Nothing surprises me about macdonalds.
Scum of the earth!

Just don’t go there, ever!
Posted by Matt S | February 12th, 2009 at 1:22 am

It will be the ad agency who did the stealing, not McDonalds. You can’t expect them so have seen some random youtube video and know it was plagiarised.
Posted by well well | February 12th, 2009 at 7:47 am

i see quite a few adverts that remind me of things I’ve seen on you tube. the only one i can remember at the moment is a house with fairy light at xmas that go in time with music. I’m sure a year later the ad appeared for a company like homebase. i dont think it’s wrong if its you tube and basically public domain.
Posted by Spong Dibbert | February 12th, 2009 at 8:33 am

I`m lovin` it!
Posted by Kevan | February 12th, 2009 at 10:44 am

I wish I had a pound for every idea that I have had tht has then become reality, or almost. I happened to have dreamed up the invisibilty shield tht worked on a system of cameras on one side of a military vehicle and small corresponding monitors on the other and vise versa. You can imagine my shock when 20 yrs later I see it being demonstrated!!! Not very well either but it was MY IDEA!!!!! Internet dating? Dreamed that one up back in the early 90’s, yes, truthfully. I just didn’t think it would work. One day I’ll visit that mythical patent office.
Posted by Jeffrey | February 12th, 2009 at 10:53 am

Wrong,

If you create something unique, basically it is your Intellectual Property. And this is a blatant infringement of Cryiaks intellectual property rights.

With a good solicitor, he could have earnt a tidy penny from the advertising agency.