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Rebecca Marshall is the Public Relations Advisor for Artocity.com, an online gallery. She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania where she majored in visual studies, an interdisciplinary study comprising art history, sociology and economics. Ms. Marshall currently holds a position with a top communications and marketing firm for museums and other cultural institutions. She still hasn't been able to shake her love of advertising and its role in visual culture.

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The Great Ad Rip-Off?

Written on
February 3rd 2006
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by Rebecca Marshall  |
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If you happen to notice the new ad campaign for Hilton Hotels, you might say “haven’t I seen this before?” You might have. To coincide with the hundreds of millions of dollars The Hilton chain is pouring into its luxury renovation, its ad agency Young and Rubicam came up with a simplistic “string” campaign… or did they? These new ads (below), crossing print, television and online, display a string connecting point “A” to point “B” with an image resembling togetherness, relaxation or romance in between. The tagline reads “Travel Should Take You Places.”

Did a Young and Rubicam creative come up with this idea while outside in New York one day, perhaps stopped in traffic light outside the Holland Tunnel? Maybe it struck him when he looked up to see the Air Tahiti Nui billboard? Last spring, Saatchi & Saatchi New York created the Air Tahiti print and outdoor campaign for Air Tahiti Nui’s first-ever non-stop flight service from New York to Tahiti. The simplistic campaign (below) displays a continuous line connecting point “A”, which is something distinctly related to New York to point “B”, representing something Tahitian. While the messages in these ads are somewhat different: Hilton posturing that travel is about more than just going from point A to point B and Ait Tahiti spelling out “direct,” the art is a bit too close for comfort.

The question is: Where do advertisers draw the line from coming up with genuinely original ideas and genuinely ripping off ideas? When are ideas simply inspired by others and when are they blatantly lifted off others? This reminds me of when Lugz boots sent Apple a ‘cease and desist’ letter ordering the giant to pull its ipod spot with Eminem.

The great ad rip-off raises the great issue - budgets. The Hilton hotel chain clearly has a behemoth allowance to imprint their “connecting points” image on the masses, while Air Tahiti’s campaign was limited to some top New York based publications and outdoors space predominantly downtown New York. If an ad doesn’t appear in the rest of the country is the idea fair game? Sorry Hilton, but the Air Tahiti ad was not just a lonely tree that fell in the forest.



Reader Comments.

no doubt ait T has the best menu art and while they borroed an image from you know who, it’s all good. www.airlinemeals.net/images/menus/airtahitinui001.jpg

Posted by Jack Wandfs | 12:15 pm on February 3, 2006.

It seems the last comment refers to air T as being the one who brrowed the image - but please take notice - it was Hilton who “borrowed” the idea/image from Air Tahiti.

Posted by Jane | 1:42 pm on February 3, 2006.

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