Photographer Claims BBDO Athens Copied Work For Dexim Ad

Old friend The Reverse Cowgirl points to yet another example of an ad agency's use of an artist's work without obtaining permission or providing credit. Writing on Constant Siege, Clayton Cubitt claims BBDO Athens created a direct rip off of photographer Jamie Nelson's work for an ad they did for Dexim. The photo used in the BBDO-created Dexim ad bears a striking resemblance to a photo Nelson took in 2006 and had published on the cover of July/August 2007 issue of Blink.

When contacted, Nelson provided Adrants with an armful of information supporting the notion BBDO Athens did, in fact, closely copy her work. BBDO Athens has been contacted but they have not yet responded. Likely BBDO Athens fully intended to mirror Nelson's work but somehow the permission process was mistakenly overlooked. I'll reserve final judgment until I've made contact with BBDO Athens to hear their side of the story.

UPDATE: We mis-reported (bad source information) the agency in question was BBDO Atlanta. It is actually BBDO Athens. Thanks to Atlanta-based Brent Terrazas for pointing out the error.

Samsung Gets Weird With Beauty Queen, Penguin, Crownfish

What do a penguin, a beauty queen and a crownfish have to do with each other? Nothing unless they are the main characters in a Samsung commercial in which a Penguin rescues the beauty queen who has just caught herself a Crownfish.

It's all very weird. Very noir. And it all points to Samsung's See the Whole Story website.

TNT Raises Toll Booth Bar on Labor Day

So Labor Day weekend is upon us here in the States. It's the time when we're supposed to remember, uh ... what was it? Oh yeah, laborers.

Labor Day originated in 1882, when the Central Labor Union of New York City aimed to create a day off for working citizens. It became an federal holiday in 1894.

Today, we mostly treat the holiday as another excuse to get in our cars, sit in traffic and scream at fellow citizens in an attempt to make our way to islands, beaches or mountainous regions to squeeze out that last ounce of summer before autumn slaps us in the face with colder weather, back to school insanity and, usually, a heavier workload.

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