In short
- Joel Veitch of Rathergood.com produced a song and video called Ninja in 2005
- Coca Cola have made an advert which looks and sounds almost exactly the same.
- Whether this is actually a copyright infringement, I don’t know, as I am not a music lawyer.
- But I do know that it is absolutely without permission and really scummy.
- So I’ve turned this into a short video, filmed in a 5 minute work break in the office stairwell using a webcam borrowed from the bloke upstairs. (Thanks Iain.)
BTW: I’m not just some random nutter who’s picked this up. Joel is a regular member of the B3ta community, which I co-founded, and I don’t like seeing members work getting purloined for commercial purposes without their permission / cash in their pocket.
UPDATE (3rd Jan 2007): Sky News have picked up the story and interviewed Joel, watch this on YouTube. Also a report on the BBC news site, and apparently Channel 5 and Channel 4 news have both filmed something too.
Well, the first thing that struck me was how superior Joel’s Ninja is to the coke ad…not only in terms or originality and interest but also in terms of technique.
I guess though, that with a planet’s worth of original ideas on t’Interweb available for plunder by the unscrupulous, we will see more of these goin’s on.
One can only hope that the plunderers will eventually realise that for the infintesial (in corporate terms) amount of money that it would take for them to commision their corporate crap from the original artist (word used after much consideration, and yes – it’s the right word), they will ultimately see the sense in that approach! Sick it to ‘em Joel.
TheFlyingPig
I suggest Joel does something funny involving kittens and the Coke logo, then see how the cunts like people using their intellectual property.
Hmm , why do i not feel surprised at another add agency ripping off an idea ?
Bar person, a rum and pepsi in protest . Well perhaps not , pepsi tates worse than the offending brown gack ….. ok just rum !
The chords are indeed similar, but very common chords. A more obvious similarity is the triplet rhythm at the end of the phrase…
Except when I listen to either version, what it really reminds me of is Uncle Sam by Madness. That same rhythm is the most noticable thing of the chorus in that song.
Ok, so ska’s always recycling itself, but it might not help Joel’s case…
Sweet baby Jesus and the orphans. Coke are thieving bunch of gypsy bastards and no mistake. Register arecokethievinggypsybastards.com and have both videos playing on a loop. Then mail the URL to every website that has a nose for these things and every newspaper you can think of. Coke need a grade A kick up the arse for this.
In all seriousness, you should do something. I’ll bung you a tenner towards your legal fees if you like.
This is a blatant copyright infringement. Contact some Media contract lawyers. Im sure one of them would take the case on, with fee’s recoupable from Damages awarded. I do know a bit about copyright law!!
And drink Irn Bru. Tis a much better fizzy Pop. Made from Girders you know.
#294- “I hate to tell you but that idea’s been done before.” – “I know, but it was in England. Nobody’s done it here so it’s not stealing.”
Well, at least they didn’t steal Santa. Oh…wait, yup that was them too
can we set them on fucking fire?
I’m with Biggus Dickus on this one – go on – Image Challenge it!!!
McDonalds did the same thing to Viz, blatantly ripping off Viz Top Tips, and GOT AWAY WITH IT!
Bastards! (although one of their minions fucked up and gave me two tubs of crinkle fries on Sunday, when I only ordered one, so perhaps they’re not all bad)
Coke’s fucking rancid anyway. Cola is for Cola Cubes and Cola Bottles, fizzy, giant or otherwise. Not for dissolving teeth.
By the way, have you seen the teeth on the Santa in the latest Coke advert?
Nope, me neither, I reckon they’re rotten as fuck. Says it all really.
The irony here is that the Coca-Cola company probably paid an ad agency far more for this obvious “borrowing” of ideas than they would have if they’d gone to Joel directly.
Legal shenanigans are unlikely to get very far, but a well-worded note to some executive at Coca-Cola could well get some heads rolling, and make them aware that going to an ad agency was probably a big fat waste of money.
Those argies will steal anything….
people’s songs/video ideas
islands
the tango
big hair
The list could go on and on
So let’s have a Coke compo and see how quickly they jump on B3tans for copyright infringement!
A coke image challenge will probably end up with b3ta.com becoming a portal of coke.com once the lawsuit needs paying!
However a challenge on cocaine based drinks would be great fun, not to mention sending exactly the right message. (That or soft drink obesity) :)
At least it was ninjas they stole and not axe wound (hedgehogs) or seepage, both great songs and would suit coca colas image! They have ruined christams by removing the polar bears, the lorry and the holidays are coming song. bastards!
Well done for making this website dedicated to ad-busting.
I’d like to say here and now that all advertising folk are vacuous whores who are too chicken-shit to express their creative talents in the industry that they would all much prefer to be in.
Now that i have totally convinced you that this opinion is un-biased here are my thoughts to anyone who can be bothered to read this far.
1 – the ad is a blatant rip off.
2 – the ad is in the arse end of the world.
3 – if some UK company used it you may have a case.
(I think Masterdard used Joel Veitch stuff a few years ago.)
4 – Ad companies steal stuff from every culture, from each other, from every film and we, as a society, lap it up and let it constantly enter our subconscious and there is very little that can be done about it.
I commend you Rob. You are actually backing your feelings with actions. Unfortunately, there are too many people out there who couldn’t give a toss. You can proabably identify them as they usually say “O I love that advert where the guy….”
We are therefore confined to our snide remarks, satirical commentary, righteous blogs and ineffectual tutting.
Despite my pesimism and with the odd against us, I will stand by you Sir Rob and gladly lay down 20mins of my time to write this drivel.
I will ride with you to the end.
PS: Im not a nutter.
If one musician can sue another cos 4 notes sounds like something they once recorded in a song 15 years ago surely Joel has a case?
there was also the small matter of trade unionists in columbian coke factories being assasinated & coke doing nothing about it (i hear the steelworkers union in the states is suing them for corporate killing)… not really connected with them pinching joels stuff though.
i’ve had a feature pinched by a futuristic publisher in the uk, i think i’m complaining about it at least in due course… oh & some daft birds ripped off one of my films recently… grrr… makes my blood boil ;-)
I’m pretty sure there is grounds on intellectual property rights at least in an “heavily inspired by” way, .. same tune, same method of animation .. they have undoubtedly seen the ninja anim. I could talk to some lawyers and see what they think if you like :0
Could someone post a link to the Virgin mess everyone keeps referring too? I have seemed to miss this episode of debacle.
Thanks!
http://www.virgin.net/music/musicvideos/sparks_dickaround.html
I think the Sparks video for ‘Dick Around’ looks like exactly like Joel’s work.
I looked at rathergood.com to see if he had it featured there as a credited work. But no…
A video of things bouncing up and down backed by a reggae tune. It was hardly a startling work of originality in the first place!
Sky News ran a feature about this today, and they interviewed Joel – he said that the band have taken legal advice and are still looking into the possibility of taking action. They also interviewed a specialist in music copyright law and he said that these things are always very hard to resolve. Then there was a statement from Coca-Cola saying that the situation was ‘regrettable’ but the work was done by a local agency who assured them it was ‘original’.
It’s a shame because I for one think it’s a blatant rip-off. Though, the publicity the band have had as a result can only be a good thing…
The Sun has also got an article on its website about it as well:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2007000344,00.html
Just seen that this ripoff by Coke is getting some exposure in Australia now!
http://www.news.com.au had a link to the Sky news piece!
http://www.channel4.com/news/content/news-storypage.jsp?id=1359883&intcmp=coke_in_copycat_row
Channel 4 included it on Snowmail last night too.
Hmm, now the link to Coke’s website doesn’t work. Excess traffic or have they taken it down deliberately?
Hi, I’m boycotting Coke from now on. BTW here’s an offer you can refuse – as a 2nd Dan I could pop round and either encourage them to reach a decent “settlement” with you or take their heads like a victim from a 70′s Fu film. Which would you prefer?
Hmmm… B3tards complaining about copyright infringement – reeks of hypocrisy and sour grapes to me.
Yeah but B3tans generally dont get financial gain from their work.. whereas a company that can afford to come up with a wholelly original piece of work has basically ripped verbatim the music and style of rathergood.com’s work.
The story has been on the Sydney Morning Herald website since last night ~ I like that they make mention of Mr Veitch’s “righteous fury followed by deep irritation”. A bottle throwing, can crushing rampage might have been a more appropriate follow on from the righteous fury, but I enjoy that sort of thing with or without copyright issues. Anyhoo, right on ~ and good luck!:
If its any consolation, I saw about this on the news today and went looking for the music. I’d never have noticed it otherwise. At least being blatantly ripped off will result in a great big load of publicity. compensation of sorts?
So who did that really atrocious advert for the Reader’s Digest £250k prize draw with the same old, same old “kitten idea”?
Because, regardless of all the copyright mewling at least Coke have the decency to show this drivel in Argentina and not every ten minutes in the UK.
How about a watchdog special? Do you know which advertising agency coke use? It could be worth having a look at them. And laughing in their faces that they have no originality.
Coke………… an fizzy drink originally made from cocaine…… the second most known phrase worldwide after ok is coca cola………….. they rebranded father christmas for marketing purposes………surprised that they stole someones material? …..have you seen the lame diet coke advert with a tortoise walking around with a can of the fizzy crap glued to its shell………… if thats the best they can come up with i’m not surprised they’ve started to steal other creative geniuses work. Dont drink the rubbish just have the real thing instead….sniff
So Coke settled then eh? Woo, Yay, and very much houpla!
http://media.guardian.co.uk/advertising/story/0,,1996295,00.html
Just read the latest on the BBC website.
Congratulations to Mr Veitch on the settlement ~ really pleased that the righteous anger paid off and a that couple of charities are going to benefit as well.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6289933.stm
Similar style but that is it. I would not consider these a copy.
Looks like you made the frontpage of The Register too.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/23/b3ta_cocacola/
A
Terrific! Joel V – 1 , Coke – nil. Heheh, so who’s the “Real Thing” now, eh, thieving bastard Coke? Oh, if only I drank the stuff so that I could now boycott it. :) But, all in all, more publicity for the original, and some money for the band and for charity. Not bad. :) Never mess with them ninja kittens.
How does Joel license his stuff? Traditional copyright is a bit old hat. A Creative Commons license is one way forward.
http://creativecommons.org/
shameless ad bastards.
Well done on the victory Joel. I’m currently facing a similar (if less blatant) situation with some of my own work:
http://www.matt-clark.co.uk/pic.php?o=52
Currently getting legal advice, but it’s depressing how easy it is for people to get away with this stuff.
man that is a coincidence
I’ve never seen this ad here in Argentina.
btw, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3z-qm-Sb_4s
Wow look, google has plastered coke advertisements all over this page, those sick bastards…
i’m from argentina and i remember watching that ad and now i see they’ve copied it….
but let me tell you that coca cola considers the argentinean ad “Para todos” the best coca cola ad in the history of the company….and then they made copies in many other countries like norway and usa…watch it!