HBO vs FANTA

Alert! Warning, drinking soft drinks causes funny hair. and apparently, so does TV.

Ok, I don't have images from both of these commercials, but one was worldwide so chances are you have already seen it.

Remember that Fanta ad which was on TV all over Europe last year before the 'Couch' ad and before the 'Frozen Fanta' ad currently showing? No? Well, I'll jog your memory. A sign is hung in the window of a barbershop stating "Free Fanta with every haircut", a young man sees it, decides it's a good deal and goes inside, where he is greeted by the barber who has extremely thick glasses on and looks half blind. Sure enough, the barber cuts and shaves irregular patterns and makes a mess of the guys hair. As the guy leaves the shop sipping his fanta he discovers that everybody's hair is like his, a young girl walking her dog, a businessman, a man on a bus-advert, and we cut to various locations including the UN parliament meeting to discover that everyone has silly hair.

Now for the test, was that Fanta idea ripped off from this HBO idea, vice versa, or do you think it was a coincidence? Oh, and if anyone out there can get a hold of any images from the Fanta commercial, I'd be very grateful if you mailed them to me.

Agency: BBDO New York CW Michael Patti Art Director Don Schneider

In a small town somewhere in america we see the inhabitants going about their business and chatting to each other. We soon realize that all the people- adults and children alike- have bizarre haircuts with large shaved paths.

Eventually we see the reason for this strange habit. Carl, the barber has been an HBO subscriber since 1976. We watch as he shaves a path through the hair of another client while watching HBO. Tag: It's not TV it's HBO.

What do I think? Coincidence or a plain rip-off? Or - is this just one of them really lame-first-idea out of your head simply done with a big budget? (You know what I mean by first idea - I've written a lot of crap in my time that went straight to the the bin). Lets face it kids - it's an old thought. The other day while cleaning the basement I found the 1979 International Broadcasting Awards book. More interestingly - in it amongst all the really terrible stuff that was awarded back then was this ad:

My my - if it isn't that preoccupied barber again. This time he's reading the Herald Tribune and the cats working on this ten second "Ident" (which would have been much better as a simple press ad if you ask me - but you didn't) were AD: Bob Egusa, CW: Glenn Hawkins and the agency was McCann Erickson Los Angeles. The announcer says: Finally there is a newspaper L.A. can't put down. The New Herald Examiner. Pick it up, today.

The really depressing thing here is not that these ideas are so old they were already done in 1979 - but that copy is still written like in the ad from 1979.. "pick it up, today".. Is that a threat? Does that comma make ", today" sound more dramatic. Can we be less explanatory? I already see by the visual that the barber can't put the damn paper down. What did you do? Super-glue it to him??