Reddit’s subthreads are goldmines for hilarious jokes, memes and comments, but that doesn’t mean they are up for grabs. One Reddit user is seeking compensation after he says Axe deodorant used one of his comments, word for word, in their newest commercial. This one to be exact…
The body wash giant promoted this advertisement as the first episode of “Shower Thoughts.” #AXEShowerThoughts holds a pretty close resemblance to a popular Reddit subthread called /r/Showerthoughts. Reddit user, “Sleepy_time_wit_taco” first discovered the similarity and called the brand out on a different subreddit.
“”AXE” is jacking our shower thoughts and not giving credit. Literally word for word,” wrote Sleep_time_wit_taco.
Most believed it was just a hilarious coincidence, until another user realized the commercial was word-for-word a Shower Thought he had submitted last year. JaSfields went to great lengths to prove that Axe stole his idea.
“I did a quick google search of the exact wording I used excluding all results after my post and it returned nothing to do with what I posted. Given the number of words which exist in the english language and the number strung together in that post I’d be highly surprised if they were ever put together in that combination ever before in the history of mankind. Then again, I could be wrong, I don’t know. But yeah as far as I can see the “exact wording” is my idea.”
Of course, there is the question of whether anything submitted on a public forum can really be claimed as property. However, the Reddit community still went crazy over the incident. Some were outraged and others claimed that they had heard the meme long before JaSfields ever wrote his Reddit post.
The video in question has been viewed more than 800,000 times. Unilever, the owner of Axe has not commented on the incident yet. The controversy continues, but as the saying goes, “Bad publicity is still publicity.”
0 Comments