With the recently published cases of Imperial Silver and the Harricks Eater, reported in Christian Cambronero’s excellent blog, Fusil de Chispas, some pepper returns to our Costa Rican advertising micro patio, especially seasoned by the naivety of many comments from those who still have a lot to learn.
There are coincidences, my friends, even if it is hard for us to accept some of them in their accuracy. There are the extraordinarily incredible cases of almost identical solutions or creative proposals, developed in completely different times and places, and that in spite of astonishment and suspicion, are carried out in a genuine and creative way by unconnected and unrelated teams. This happens, has happened to us and will continue to happen. With so many years in advertising, I can tell you that I have seen them on more than a few occasions.
Unfortunately, there are also plagiarisms, rifles and copies, made openly or underhandedly, with premeditated intention, individually or collectively, for a century, two and five, as well as for a year, six months or three days. There is nothing new, since they occur in literature, art, computer science, design, architecture, mathematics, engineering, business, patents, in everything, and well, also in advertising. Personally, I do not endorse them, I do not support them, they rot me just like everyone else, they bother me and I would like to disappear from the world forever.
So also, don’t forget, there are clients who order their agency to copy, rifle or plagiarize, without any shame or with total solvency at the moment, because there are those who think that an idea belongs to everyone and without reservation, as there are a few who recognize that it is a property that morally must be respected. In a traffic accident, it is often said that “he who hits, pays”, and for this reason, I can say that I remember it on very few occasions, but in my career there have been one or two moments in which the client has said: “this is the way I want it”. And while this doesn’t justify the gun, remember that it doesn’t always come from the agency or the creative.
There are those who would say that a version like Imperial Silver’s is an adaptation, a recycling or a rehash, with subjective implications or connotations and generally adjusted to the convenience of each one. You will also find those who prejudge, pass judgment and link, often without any information, and who, of course, take advantage of the anonymous spaces for their uncensored comments. Then there are those who insist on the foolishness of many by saying that “quiet is nicer”, because few are those who speak out openly, and of the key advertising players in Costa Rica, generally nothing is known openly. Why the silence?
Personally, it makes me very uncomfortable that in a Costa Rica that has been making great creative efforts, debatable or not, a commercial of a leading brand in the country, created by the most traditional agency in the region, appears with such a direct resemblance to Quilmes, a well-known leading beer brand in Argentina. I cannot observe this situation in silence, because in my small space of this advertising activity, I want to make it clear that I do not agree with the rifle, plagiarism or copying, of course, and that it is up to us to fight to generate new, daring ideas, with fresh versions and original contributions, however difficult it may be and however much possible coincidence may appear.
Of course, there are references, starting points, adaptations and legitimate recyclings, which take an idea of a proposal, combine it with the style of a moment, the music of an era, the personality of a region and by combining it all, something new is generated, something that refreshes and is recognized as unique. Nobody believes in a vacuum and for this reason, the puritanical purism of some is nothing more than a kind of hypocrisy. However, it is necessary to recognize the direct resemblance and the obvious when it is at the forefront, and in the cases of the moment, it seems that there is more than a simple coincidence.
In times like Harrick’s Comelon, from the Mercatec Gutierrez Machado agency, if I am not mistaken, rifles were made without suspecting possible discovery of “inspiration”, in a much less connected and online world like today. It was virtually impossible to have the radars we have today, and because of this, there were many creative people who shot from all over the world, to adapt in our remote countries according to their measure of talent and conscience.
In any case, in order not to extend more than what I have already extended, it is about time that the creative heads or the heads of the agencies in the country speak out. There are too many spaces available to express their positions, and for this reason, I believe we can take advantage of the wonderful world in which we live, to become a concerted, communicated and connected community, beyond the sporadic moments in which we meet.
It is not acceptable to remain silent. It is no longer acceptable to remain hidden. Our work is public and open, it is published and published in the mass media, and for this reason, we cannot throw the commercial stones and then hide the hands that threw them.
