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Plagiarism in advertising: Copywriting legend Indra Sinha from the UK shares his views June 11, 2007

Posted by Farrukh Naeem at copywriterjournalist.com in : Advertising, Advertising Awards, Advertising in Dubai, Advertising in the UAE, Business Ethics, Copyright Permission, Copywriting, Corporate Social Responsibility, Ethics in Advertising, Indra Sinha, Journalism, Lack of creativity in advertising, Marketing, Plagiarism, Plagiarism in advertising, Tobacco Advertising , 18 comments

The discussion on plagiarism and copy-paste creativity in advertising continues with this post. Looks like my earlier post has struck a chord, with the kind of response I have received. Everyone has, at least once in their life, had their idea stolen, borrowed, killed only to be resurrected again with someone else’s name on it.

An interesting, almost ironic, thing happened right after I posted my content online. Zeid Nasser of MediaMe.com, a friend and fellow ad blogger in the region, re-posted my post, almost in its entirety, on his home page with a link back to my blog. (Thanks, Zeid.) The post has been titled ‘Plagiarism in the Middle East on the rise‘ which I have asked Zeid to reconsider since my post is about the ad industry not the Middle East. Interesting how far one post can go on the net, isn’t it?

I was also asked by a member of the Arabic media to comment on this issue. Good to know the interest generated by this theme. As I had written, plagiarism is a relevant issue that needs to be talked about. The post might have made some creative directors uncomfortable. Cool.

The most amazing part has been the mail sent in by Indra Sinha. He is a copywriting legend who needs no introduction. His work for Amnesty International and Metropolitan Police will have any ad lover mesmerised. I would even go so far as to say that Indra is what young copywriters may want to be when they grow up. And this is what Indra wrote to me that I would like to share with you:

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Plagiarism and copy-paste creativity in advertising – copywriter in Dubai, UAE, continues the discussion on ethics in advertising June 9, 2007

Posted by Farrukh Naeem at copywriterjournalist.com in : Advertising, Advertising Awards, Advertising in Dubai, Advertising in the UAE, Copyright Permission, Copywriting, Ethics in Advertising, Farrukh Naeem, Internet Advertising, Journalism, Lack of creativity in advertising, Marketing, Plagiarism, Plagiarism in advertising , 36 comments

We the creative people in advertising – the creative directors, copywriters, art directors, graphic designers – take great pride in producing original ideas. At least that’s what we claim.

Then we see from amongst us, creatives being caught for copying not just a treatment or idea but entire sentences, phrases, tag lines, layouts with the fonts and visuals. I have even received emails from you, dear readers, alerting me to plagiarised ads. (An ad-blogging friend had sent me a copy of an ad he felt was a rip-off which he couldn’t put on his blog because they were also working for that client.)

The lack of self respect when one simply lifts someone else’s concept and execution is one of the reasons why we the advertising people have earned ourselves the notoriety of being in one of the least respected professions in the world. We have brought this upon us. (That email forward about “Don’t tell my mom I work in advertising…” comes to mind.) 

Some of us just can’t help lifting stuff from advertising awards books. I have seen it happening so much, it has almost become an industry norm. Sad.

I remember one creative who kept the awards book he copied from, safely tucked in his drawer. So that no one will ever know where his ‘inspiration’ came from. His best idea was traced back to that book in his drawer.

Perhaps it’s the pressure of winning awards. Perhaps it’s the lack of confidence in some people about creating something world class with their own mind. It’s not what one would expect from an industry like ours, bursting at the seams with highly talented people. We have some of the brightest minds in business in the ad agency cubicles, halls, water cooler areas.  

Call me a dreamer, but I am sure many of us in advertising believe that we don’t have to copy things from awards books and other people’s portfolios and websites. Yes, ideas are everywhere. But taking someone’s layout and copy? 

And people who get into the habit of copy-paste don’t just stop at ad layouts. I recently came across a profile of an ad man that reads just like mine with exact phrases from my profile, on the same online network, in my own city!

I am reproducing a few of the many, many ’coincidences’ I found below in this person’s profile:

My network profile: (Wants) partnerships for projects across the globe
Copy-paste profile: (Wants) Partnerships for projects across the globe

My network profile: campaigns for TV, radio, press, magazines, outdoor, direct marketing and the internet
Copy-paste profile: campaigns for TV, radio, press, magazines, outdoor, direct marketing and the internet

My network profile: worked on some of the hottest brands in the world
Copy-paste profile: worked for some of the hottest brands and companies in the world

I could have provided you a link to our friend’s profile – but then this post isn’t about any particular person. However, if you want to hire a ‘global creative director’ who’s good at copying and pasting things, email me and I might just give you the link.

Anyway, this post is about an unethical and unflattering practice that I feel does disservice to our advertising profession. It’s about two buttons on our keyboard - ‘Ctrl’ and ‘C’. Let’s not use them too much.

In the coming days, I plan to have a few more posts on copy-paste creativity in the world of advertising because discussion on this is relevant and needed, specially in the time of the internet which makes plagiarism easy to do. But then, it has also become easier to track. Thank you, Google.

Take the case of this blog as an example - I caught someone copying content from my blog, from as far as Russia, and pasting it as his own writing. Such a content-scraper can be easily banned from their web host on charges of copyright violation and breach of TOS. (Quoting from this blog, as this blog’s copyright notice says, is fine as long as the quote is attributed and linked back to my blog as the source.)  I believe in open source and information sharing but am strongly against plagiarism and credit-stealing.

What is your verdict, dear readers?

When does inspiration or benchmarking become plagiarism?

Have you met friends in the profession who feel it’s cool to copy as long as one doesn’t get caught?

Have your ideas and ads been lifted by other creatives who don’t have what it takes but are faking it?

If you are a brand manager or marketer, would you hire a self-professed ‘global creative director‘ who’s been caught stealing ideas from others and passing them as his own?

Comments are open… I don’t fancy anonymous ones though.