Apple new “Intel” TV ad that bear a striking resemblance to a music video from The Postal Service for the song “Such Great Heights.” (The song is available on Apple’s U.S. iTunes Music Store, click song title).
Elite Productions has posted a side-by-side comparison of Apple’s “Intel” ad with the “Such Great Heights” music video by The Postal Service.
The similarities are striking and undeniable.
See Elite Productions’ video comparison of the original, unedited Apple ad on the left along with corresponding clips from the music video on the right (H.264 – 3 MB QuickTime 7 Compatible) here.
Elite Productions also has video capture still shots for comparison here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews reader “pvr” for the link. Attribution: mediamac.dk]
[UPDATE: 11:40pm ET: The ad and the music video were directed by the same directing duo. See related article below.]
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Related articles:
Meet the directing duo behind both Apple’s ‘Intel’ ad and The Postal Service’s music video – January 17, 2006
Lugz sends Apple cease-and-desist letter over Eminem iPod+iTunes TV commercial – November 04, 2005
Lugz boots ad agency ‘very upset’ about Apple’s iPod+iTunes eminem ad – October 25, 2005
Apple takes heat for Eminem iPod+iTunes ad’s similarity to 4-year-old Lugz spot – October 20, 2005
oh god…here we go again.
so? does somebody care? it’s all propaganda. as if someone in advertising has any artistic integrity. it’s all the same vomit.
Okay.. Maybe the Eminem iPod commercial was SORT of a rip off, but this thing is nearly IDENTICAL! YIKES!
Why, Apple, WHY?
Great minds think alike…
sheesh. Given the recent LUGZ debacle, you would’ve thought someone could’ve spotted that. ouch. I mean, there’s really nothing to argue when you see it side by side.
the links do not work.
I’ve got to say, only in the Mac community would people be digging this stuff up so quick. Good find, not a brilliant move on Apple’s part.
SJ needs to fire some people over this one — way to close for the company who’s slogan is “Think Different”
wow, disappointed! can apple get a new ad company
Well, in some regards not too surprising. Intel said they provided some ‘footage’ for the add – no doubt stock footage they provide anyone. The scrolling back out of the computer, well, how many times have you seen that effect? Be it out of a computer screen, out of a worm hole (earth worm not black holes), playing backwards a drop of milk, etc.
At this rate, Apple’s next commercial will feature urban males yelling “Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaassup!” as they use iChat AV.
“SJ needs to fire some people over this one — way to close for the company who’s slogan is “Think Different””
I agree. While both ads are good, the similarities are too…er…similar for this to be a coincidence.
Surely Apple use one or more advertising agencies to create their adverts for them… can’t they now sue them to hell and gone for having their creative name disparaged?
So they edited a vid to match some shots in the ad. Both vids concern chip manufacturing. Could the ad makers have cribbed a few camera angles and lens choices? Sure. Other than that, what’s the big deal? I don’t think slow dramatic pans to/from a closeup are new. Oh yeah, they both have bunny suited workers and chip making robot arms! Both color palettes are in stark techno black and white!
please…
Yeesh, Apple better just pay off these guys and have done with it fast, before they create another PR debacle…. Stupid, stupid, stupid!
Am I the only one who can’t access these links?
I even think one of the actresses in the videos is the same. Maybe they shot them the same day. =). I wonder if ‘She’ could shed some light on it.
It is funny eitherway. On the flip side, many people will not watch this commercial unless they are in the 55 and up crowd. [the music sends you to the other room for a cup of coffee].
cheers
^ Yes Jesus. ^
Anyway – I don’t see why Apple would copy off a music video of such a well-known artist. Are they targeting teens who like The Postal Service (which by the way, The Postal Service video is in syncronized w/the music, pretty neat), or did they just not expect people notice something to blatant?
There may be similarities, but each piece is simple documentary-style filmmaking set to music. The real repetiveness is the clean room subject matter, which incidentally, seems entirely mismatched with the postal service music (and the service apparently being advertised, for that matter. I just did not get that video).
The Apple footage is much better and the editing is tighter and more to the point, and it actually relates to the product being advertised. This style of video to music is done all the time. If you ask me, neither is strikingy original.
To be a copyright problem, a court would have to rule that the Apple photographer and editors actually had prior knowledge of the music video, and that they used it as a shooting and editing guide to replicate their piece, or that perhaps the ad executives who thought up the campaign used it as a guide in planning their original storyboard concept and shooting script.
In a famous infringment case, one advertising agency once did this when designing a magazine ad with a stolen still photograph. The clueless art directors then asked photographers to bid on replicating the look-and-feel of the orignal photo, and even invited the author of the original, comped photo to bid. But they awarded the bid to another photographer they usually worked with to save just a couple of hundred dollars. The A.D.’s took a copy of the original photo out on location with them and used it as a guide to replicate the mood of the original photo. The finished image and location scene used looked nothing like the orginal except that both photos depicted wheelchairs on porches.
The original photographer won an infringement award for $20-$30 thousand dollars (I don’t recall the exact value). The art directors screwed up when they asked the original photographer to bid on the project, but did not award it to him. They handed him the prior knowledge evidence he then used to initiate an infringement lawsuit…stupidty may have been their second crime…
I think this is less significant than the Eminem/Lugz comparison. That one was mostly a designer-created set of images, colors, etc. The Apple-Intel/Postal Service shots are two documentations of the same process and machinery, so of course they are going to look a lot alike.
I think the only striking similarities that aren’t inherent to the location are the close-up shots of the people, especially that the genders match exactly. But even then, the shots from the music video have been edited for the specific purpose of matching them to the Apple ad, so the similarity is somewhat contrived exaggerated. (I haven’t been able to watch the Postal Service video to see how much editing was done.)
Similarities? Watch the whole Postal Service video and you see that there really is no similarity in context except for the whole manufacturing process.
If you take what all of us have been typing, splice sentances together, and wow, you come up with portions of SJ’s keynote! Coincidence or is Apple copying the rest of us?
(/sarcasm)
Who cares . . . move on.
Oh, so the Postal Service is the name of a group! YIKES! Now I see why the video doesn’t work as an ad for the U.S. Postal Service. Talk about brain dead stupidity on my part…It’s 8 a.m. in California and I should go back to bed…
I have been in the design industry for over 16 years and believe me, there is no such thing as an original idea when it comes to marketing and advertising.
Every generation re-interprets the same old ideas but in a new way.
WOW.
I didn’t buy all that much into the Eminem ad being a rip off, but this one is just too damn similar to not have been seen by whoever made that commercial. Thats just crazy.
Forget about the song. The real problem is the ad, itself.
It’s just another fluff piece that does nothing to show off advantages of OSX.
Okay, I’ve seen the video now, and as I suspected, the shots were cut and rearranged in time (you might say edited–duh) to match the Apple ad. Both seem to just be documenting the same process. The video is several minutes long, so nearly every aspect of the process was included. There probably aren’t that many places a pro video or film camera can fit in a chip fab facility.
Someone mentioned the zoom out from the chip. Guess what? The video also has a zoom IN to the chip, so if Apple’s ad had that, they could also be lined up.
http://www.eliteproductionswi.com/apple-ps.htm
Does anyone know where there’s a copy of the unedited music video online?
Think different – steal ideas.
I wish Apple would at least steal some ad ideas that are effective.
So it seems that TBWA/Chiat/Day not only cannot show an actual Mac at work but can’t even produce an original ad.
Fire them !
One’s an ad for the new Intel iMac, the other is a several year old music video for a song by The Postal Service. You’re comparing shots from a 4:28 long song to a :30 commercial. Similarities do exist, but is this a blatant rip-off by Apple, merely an homage to the music video itself, or just a coincidence? In any case, I don’t think it’s quite as big a deal as the Lugz/iPod case. I’ve seen plenty of ads that pay homage to movies, TV shows, or various other pop culture icons.
Hey, it would be cool to see the old BuyMusic versus Apple iPod video ads side by side.
Who cares….it’s still a great commercial.
The main problem with this is that Apple will be looked down upon for modeling their ad to any existing concept rather than coming up with something original. It’s embarrassing. Apple’s whole mystique revolves around uniqueness, creativity, and cutting edge. I hope the murmers are kept below the radar, because this is going to turn more than a few faces beet red.
hahahahahahahah.
good lord that’s pretty blatant.
Jesus, try copying and pasting the links in your browser. Seems to work better.
Later, old buddy.
“Apple’s ‘Intel’ ad strikingly similar to ‘Such Great Heights’ music video”
This is why: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=25&chapter=1&verse=9&version=31&context=verse
Rock on Steve!
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Heck, the next thing you hear will be “dude, you’re getting a mac!”
shudder
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Take selected clips from any two movies within the same genre and you’ll be able to prove plagiarism.
“I’ve got to say, only in the Mac community would people be digging this stuff up so quick. Good find, not a brilliant move on Apple’s part.”
Yeah, this was pointed out back on the 11th and made the rounds last week.
http://wiredblogs.tripod.com/cultofmac/index.blog?entry_id=1385523
Maybe Apple is doing it on purpose, sure gets a lot more press to have an ad that sparks a lawsuit.
MW = faith
don’t bet on it…
Two cameramen go into the same Budweiser Brewery to shoot video. One to do a 30 second commercial for The TapRoom, Now with Bud on Tap. The second to shoot a 4 minute video for The Macheen’s new song, Industrial Bud.
Narrow hallways, brewing vats, company smocks, hairnets, bottle filling machines, bottles running down the track, case filling machines, quality control and a break room. Long, medium and close-up shots.
I’m sure each cameraman will have totally unique footage for their clients.
MDNMW “how”
Hey all you clones. In showing the process of how a fab operates, please explain to me how many ways there are to do that? This story bites. Intel has been taking photos and video of their fabs for years. Amazing how a boring production process can look the same shot by two different people. Duh.
Ooh. When the Such Great Heights video zooms out of a processor chip to space it looks JUST LIKE a HUMMER ad! Somebody threaten to sue!
I think there’s an AD at Chiat who decided this was a perfect opportunity to do an homage to his favorite band’s video.
I think Apple needs to dump them and get a young, hungry group in on their ads.
This is a really stupid Apple ad too. It never shows a single Apple product doing anything. It preaches to the choir, as Apple ads always do. Waste of money.
You must realize that Apple is now doing these things on purpose, just to get everybody comparing Apple ads to old ads. Watch for a new Classic Commercials section in iTunes. Buy an ad for $4.99, see if you can match it to an existing Apple ad and win $2 off.
REPORT!:
Apple’s logo looks similar to common fruit. Details at eleven.
god this is distressing. they are far too similar. all of you people need to drink a little less koolaid, and i’m fairly fanatic about macs myself.
I don’t want to start a flame war here, but those who think it’s just coincidence, or that there are only so many places a camera will fit in a clean room, etc.- have you actually watched the side-by-side comparison video? It’s not just similar shots. The storyboards for the shots would have to be identical. The camera zooming out from the chip at the end of both videos both use the exact same path of motion. The people passing the plate & the way they look at each other- those shots are exactly the same- not just angle, or order, but the cuts are identical. It’s definitely a copywrite infringement of some sort, even if it is an homage, unless Apple got permission for it (and yes, I know, it’s the same director for both videos, but still!!).
Hey Jesus! It’s not your time!
No one will care if these two videos are embarrassingly similar. It’s history.
yawn, nothing to see here. Move on
If it is the same director it can’t be plagerism. It just called repeating yourself. The rights to the idea and shot list belong to the director, not the band. It would be if Quentin Tarantino directed a commercial and repated and exact shot sequence from Resevoir Dogs, its not original, but it damn sure wouldn’t be plagerism. You can’t plagerise yourself.
Also if someone did sue, the only liable party would be the director. Apple and whovere made the commercial could claim that they had never seen the video ( completely possible) and didn’t know about the infringement. Apple is even more removed from liability by the fact that they didn’t make the ad, but contracted someone else to make it for them.
At worst this is a bad director who should find himself in hot water with the client (ad company) for presenting a rehash of his old work.
HACK!!
Having just watched the full Postal Service video, here’s my take: they both used some Intel stock footage, which accounts for the occasional shot similarities. Foolish move by the advert company, but the full videos don’t really seem the same at all. I couldn’t see anyone getting a lawsuit out of this.
Let’s thank the folks who dug up these similarities for giving us the opportunity to appreciate (in the Postal Service video) a nice, sad, post-modern love vignette set to great music.
No, the Apple ad is in no danger of copyright infringement. The worst that can happen is publicity, which is also the best that can happen. Apple’s ad depicts a very different story: three workers joining in revery to a computer chip.
The video setting and style of the camerawork are strikingly similar, but that is not plagiarism. If two different movies show strikingly similar footage of a man and a woman running up to each other and embracing on a beach, one as a prelude to a disaster, the other as the ending climax, no one cries copy-cat: the point is that two completely different stories are being told. (btw, the eminem/lugz ads do tell pretty much the same story: use our product and you’ll be cool).
Elite Productions is being deliberately provocative, naive, or both, by splicing clips from the Postal Video out of sequence and out of context to imply more similarity than actually exists. Shame on them.
maybe it’s a homage, not a pillage.
First, this “news” has been out on Wired since last Tuesday.
Second, the intro of The Postal Service’s video looks similar, but the further you go along, the further they diverge.
Third, we don’t know whether the ad agency sought approval to use similar imagery. Heck, for all we know the director of the video could be the same as for the ad.
Fourth, I’d like to say people shouldn’t jump the gun without knowing all the facts, but hey, this is the internet! Who needs facts to come to a conclusion!
“Does anyone know where there’s a copy of the unedited music video online?”
http://www.mp3sinyourmouth.com/personal/backup/music/vids/the postal service – such great heights – videopimp.mpg
They’re similar because they were made by the same people:
“False Alarm: Same Directors Behind Apple Intel Ad/Music Video”
http://wiredblogs.tripod.com/cultofmac/index.blog?topic_id=2025
It appears the version of the ‘Such Great Heights’ video that Apple released on iTunes has been censored. All signs of the name “Skyworks” have been blurred out. They are visible in previous versions of the video. I created several screenshots to compare the original Postal Service version, to the version that is now available on iTunes (deja vu?).
http://www.eliteproductionswi.com/apple-ps-censored.htm