MALAYSIA – While the world was waiting to welcome the New Year, it wasn’t firecrackers that erupted in the advertising industry. It was a tweet by Tom Anders, a 21-year-old multi-disciplined advertising creative, based on his Twitter bio, from the United Kingdom.
In his tweet, he was accusing the Kancil Agency of the Year award winner, Dentsu Utama of ‘blatantly copying’ his design.
Hey, @dentsuaegis @WWF I think you may have blatantly copied my design in your award winning poster. pic.twitter.com/2XUTF65CkW
Sponsor — Tom Anders Watkins (@TomAnders_) December 29, 2015
The poster in question is part of Dentsu Utama’s ‘Anti-Poaching’ campaign for World Wildlife Fund (WWF) which uncannily resembles the young designer’s. This tweet quickly snowballed after attracting over 1,700 retweets and more than 1,300 favorites.
The following day, the agency quickly issued a response to the allegation on their Facebook page.
Official Statement from Dentsu Aegis on allegations made against Dentsu Utama’s “Anti-Poaching” WWF ad campaign.It has…
Posted by Dentsu Utama on Wednesday, December 30, 2015
But based on another tweet by Anders on January 7th, the two apparently failed to settle the beef.
So, as it turns out @dentsuaegis Utama – reject my allegation of IP infringement because 'we added crosshairs'. pic.twitter.com/ztCXUxjyyT
— Tom Anders Watkins (@TomAnders_) January 7, 2016
On January 8th, the Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Malaysia (4As) announced their decision to disqualify the awards received by Dentsu Utama for the WWF campaign, “Cross River Gorilla,” and another work done for internet privacy campaign Web Privacy Watch, ‘Professional Man’ which allegedly copied ‘The Architect,’ a work by Swedish artist Erik Johansson.
According to the statement by 4As, “The foreign work were posted in public ahead of the date of publication, as notified in the entry submission by Dentsu Utama,” with proofs from the complainants that their works were posted much earlier. The findings was a result of an investigation initiated by 4As in response to various complaints.
“We take a serious view of work that are deemed sufficiently close to works created originally elsewhere,” said Tan Kien Eng, Creative Council Chairman and CEO of Leo Burnett Malaysia. “We must maintain a high level of integrity and credibility as the industry’s official body in Malaysia. The decision to disqualify the awards for both creative works was not taken lightly as we had explored all possible scenarios. In the end, the facts were overwhelmingly in favour of the original creators.”
Shortly after the announcement, Dentsu Utama and its representatives resigned from 4As through a statement posted on their Facebook page. The post as of this writing, has been deleted.
Anders was pleased with the decision of the festival organizers and is showing no plans to take the matters to court but tweeted to a follower that he is “going to explore a few options” but for now, he still has a degree to pass.
As for the 4As Malaysia, “as is normal practice for all Kancil, Effie and Putra Brands Awards organized annually, the 4A’s conducts a post-mortem and will introduce improvements for the following year. These will be announced nearer the date of each annual award,” said a 4As representative in an interview with adobo magazine coursed through the organization’s PR firm, Waves PR.
