Sony Denies Swiping Play-Doh Bunnies Ad

Sony recently released an amazing new ad for its Bravia range, depicting hordes of brightly-colored play-doh bunnies leaping around New York. It immediately transpired that this ad was obviously swiped from a proposal sent to it by Kozydan, which has not been paid or otherwise credited for the work — despite Sony’s ad agency, it claims, calling them to get more samples.

Well, for what it’s worth, here’s Sony’s side of the story — which is to say, a "making of" video that explains how its people executed the ad. It also offers a strongly-worded denial of the claims.

The clip has interviews with creative producer Juan Cabral from ad agency Fallon, animation director Darren Walsh from studio Passion Pictures, and director Frank Budgen. If it didn’t have such a cloud of impropriety hanging over it, it would be a fascinating illustration of how the ad was crafted. As it is, however, it’s breathtaking for all the wrong reasons.

This embedded clip is at Sony’s European website.

UPDATE: Here’s Sony’s official word on the matter, from Zaireen Iskandar of  PR agency Immediate Future.

‘There is suggestion that there is a similarity between an illustration by Kozyndan and the new Sony BRAVIA ‘Play-Doh’ advert.  Sony would like to stress that the advert conception, creative and final animation is not based on any pre-existing artwork.

Sony Europe, its agency Fallon, production company Gorgeous, and animation company Passion Pictures, assert that the wave, whale and bunnies were arrived at without reference to these artists. In the original script, the rabbits were one of many creatures to cavort around a cityscape. In fact, the location was only finalised shortly before the shoot. The final creative, led by Juan Cabral at Fallon and director Frank Budgen at Gorgeous, was chosen to champion the brand and best reflect ‘colour.like.no.other’. Sony enjoys working with experienced and talented creatives and all involvement in a campaign is always credited.’

The claim is, essentially, that Sony forgot about the proposal that was sent to it, then independently came up with the exact same idea all by itself.

Direct Link [Thanks, Zai]