OK Go, the masters of viral one-take music videos, say the brand that “thinks differently” stole their latest idea.
That’s right, Apple. You might have seen this latest self-promotion open Apple’s iPhone 6 event earlier this week. The video is called “Perspective”. (Video via Apple)
What you might not have seen before that is OK Go’s MTV award-winning music video, “The Writing's On The Wall”. Both videos seem similar because objects and words are created through optical illusions.
Here’s OK Go spelling out the song’s title “The Writing’s On The Wall”. Now, here’s Apple’s video. Watch as the possibly ironic phrase “seen things differently” becomes visible in a similar fashion. (Video via OK Go / BMG | Apple)
Is it really the same? It’s hard to judge, but here are a few things you don’t see in the video that are way too similar.
Numerous media outlets covering the issue say the videos are not coincidence. They point to a Bloomberg Businessweek article in which OK Go manager Andy Gershon said he and the band wanted to collaborate with Apple on the idea in April. The Cupertino company shot them down then and a few months later, it revealed “Perspective”. (Video via Bloomberg)
What’s more? Let’s turn to PC Magazine. “Adding fuel to OK Go's presumed fire is the fact that the exact same production company that made OK Go's perspective-shifting video also made Apple video. And, yes, Apple even hired the exact same video director.”
That company is 1stAveMachine, a creative agency out of New York. For now, Gershon claims OK Go is weighing its legal options at the moment.
However, the experts at Adweek dug deeper and drew comparisons to other similar videos.
They found this TV ad for Honda, which uses perspective illusions as well. Their conclusion: popular concepts are duplicated in the world of advertising. (Video via Honda)
However in this case,“For Apple … appearing to borrow concepts from others repudiates the brand's core message of being original and innovative. Simply put, Gershon believes Apple didn't think differently enough when creating its film.”
As of Thursday afternoon, OK Go’s video has more than 10 million views on YouTube, while Apple’s video only boasts half a million. We wonder: what are they fighting for? More views? The fact that this battle is so widely covered draws another idea to mind: as they say in PR, “any press is good press”.
This video includes images from Getty Images.
