McDonald’s advertising agency accused of plagiarising artist's viral cows video
Cult animator who directed videos for Bloc Party and Bonobo makes allegations
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Your support makes all the difference.A McDonald’s advertising agency has copied the work of cult animator Cyriak without paying or acknowledging him, it has been claimed.
The fast food giant faced a huge backlash after the Hampshire-based digital artist alleged his video called ‘Cows & Cows & Cows’ which has racked up more than 37million views on YouTube, has been plagiarised.
The 41-year-old, whose full name is Cyriak Harris, has directed music videos for electronic artists Bonobo and Bloc Party, and his artwork has been commissioned by the likes of Coca-Cola.
He posted on Twitter: “Wonder how much @McDonalds paid someone to copy my video. I didn't even get paid to make the original”.
Mr Harris, who is highly-regarded by comedian Adam Buxton and satirical duo Cassetteboy, is a self-taught digital gif maker who studied hand-drawn animation at school.
He told The Independent: "Plagiarism in the advertising industry is a problem for artists and it should be a problem for advertisers as well, because each of them depend on the other to a certain extent.
"I have done plenty of work for advertisers and in general it is a relationship that works well, but there will always be a grey area in copyright where influence and homage and reference exist.
"I've had a few occasions where adverts were clearly influenced by videos of mine, but there is a sliding scale from vague similarity all the way to blatant rip-off which makes the legality of it a bit fuzzy."
The advert was for McDonald's in South America extolling the milk used in its ice cream.
It appears to have been made by a small Buenos Aires animation studio called Juan Solo.
A user called LeandroPedrouzo posted on design forum NewTek that Cyriak was the inspiration behind the cows.
Complimenting the design, one person wrote: “It is very nice!...The cows remind me of Cyriak.”
LeandroPedrouzo responded: “Actually Cyriak was the reference for this spot.”
"Spot" means the advert itself, and the reference is example videos or images that the ad agency gives the creatives as a guide for how they want it to look.
A Leandro Pedrouzo, listed on the website of the agency, has been contacted for comment.
A McDonald's spokesman said he is aware of the allegations made against the advertising agency and is investigating.
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