The Postal Service is a decent band that I follow from time to time. As you might expect, I was a bit shocked during a recent viewing of a commercial Apple aired when unveiling the new Mac/Intel deal. It’s a blatant rip of The Postal Service’s music video for their single “Such Great Heights”. Not to mention a bad decision for Apple to call PC’s “dull little boxes that perform dull little tasks“.

This is a split frame video. The left side is the Apple advert, and the right is the Such Great Heights music video from The Postal Service.

After further research, I’ve found that the two videos were created by the same producers, Josh Melnick and Xander Charity.

Ben Gibbard stated on the band’s website:

“It has recently come to our attention that Apple Computers’ new television commercial for the Intel chip features a shot-for-shot recreation of our video for ‘Such Great Heights’ made by the same filmmakers responsible for the original. We did not approve this commercialization and are extremely disappointed with both parties that this was executed without our consultation or consent.“

This outlines a bigger problem in the creative industry. As a graphic artist it is not okay to design the same logo for two clients! (or rip another) As a music producer it is not alright to produce the same soundtrack for two musicians. (or rip another) As a video producer, it isn’t ethical to replicate your content for two (undoubtedly great paying) clients!

It may be more difficult for a producer if an employer has viewed their portfolio and specifically requested something. Any competent exec would realize this company’s portfolio. So, why and how would Apple allow this if they were fully aware of it being used in the past? Can we pass full blame on the producer if Apple laid a million bucks on the table and said “gimme”?