Spot the difference: Alexander McQueen Fall 2006 hologram vs Cadbury Flake ad

Posted by Helen Lee at 7:17 pm June 14th, 2010 | 0 comments

Is it imitation or is it plagiarism when a film and music video director creates two ads/short movies that are very similar for two different companies?

That is the question the Gucci Group, who own the fashion house of Alexander McQueen are asking after they saw a TV ad for the Cadbury Flake chocolate bar. It looks eerily similar to that of a hologram image of Kate Moss in a Alexander McQueen video that served as the back drop to his Fall 2006 runway show. Both feature a blonde woman wearing a billowing dress that ripples away in the wind to slowly unveil the woman wearing it. The McQueen clip was created with Baillie Walsh in 2005 who also worked with Cadbury on their video.

“We were aware of Baillie’s work with Alexander McQueen and others when we commissioned him to reflect the delicacy and fragility of the folds in the Flake bar,” a Cadbury spokesman wrote in a statement to WWD. “We felt Baillie’s unique house style was exactly what we were looking for.”

Watch the McQueen and the Cadbury Flake ads below and you tell us what you think.

If I were the Gucci Group, I would be looking at the contract Walsh signed to check the ownership clause of the creation.

Kate Moss hologram for Alexander McQueen, Fall 2006 by Baillie Walsh

Cadbury Flake ad by Baillie Walsh