So, there appears to be a bit of a kerfuffle (damn I love that word) over everything from intellectual property rights to copy rights and internet memes and all kinds of legal crap over whether or not the new Chevy ad below stole its concept from the popular blog, DearPhotograph.

Of course the answer is no, no it didn’t steal it… simply because DearPhotograph didn’t come up with the concept in the first place.  The whiny founder and operator of the site,  Taylor Jones, was quoted in a Mashable article claiming as much, but also adding in the shifty, “I did popularize it by creating a unique site that brings together the physical technique with deeply emotional reflections that are expressed as captions.”

What the fuck is that?  Are you fucking kidding me with this “deeply emotional reflections” crap?

Let’s start with the first line of bullshit – sites like this one and this one are doing the exact same thing as you have, plus, I can remember, but not find, a whole line of pictures where people were doing this with album covers for awhile.  So, you’re already full of shit on just the idea front, which you try and dodge by saying you didn’t invent it, but you certainly don’t mind that Mashable wrote a whole article about Chevy stealing your idea (Mashable also already wrote a nice puff piece about the blog before the Chevy thing went down).

Second, DearPhotograh didn’t add any deep reflecting anything… it used an idea that was around already and then encouraged other people (yes, other people) to join in on an idea that was around already to create a website where you can put ads and make a little scratch on the side from the traffic.

Oh wait, I see what you mean… are you talking about the sappy captions people add when they submit their own picture in picture shots?  So that’s the difference?  Are you sure?  Then you’re truly full of crap because the Chevy ad doesn’t do that part at all, it just ads a Ray Charles song.

Good grief, get over yourself.  You created a derivative work and you knew you created a derivative work; you don’t get to run around bitching when someone else, big car company or not, creates another derivative work.

Here’s the reprehensible thing… not only did Chevy not steal it, but you’re going to actually try and steal some thunder from their ad campaign, and some additional ad revenue generating traffic to your blog, all in the name of intellectual property rights you don’t actually have in the first place.

Say what you will about Chevrolet and Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, but they actually created a great ad for their product that utilized a popular and existing photography technique and no matter how much you bitch, you’re not going to get any credit.

– JF

Related articles

• Chevy Turns to Pictures to Celebrate a Centennial (mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com)
• Did Chevy Steal This Commercial Idea From a Popular Blog? (mashable.com)
• Did Chevy Steal Creative Concept from Popular Blog? (laist.com)
• Dear creatives, nick Dear Photograph faster next time. (adland.tv)