Sunday, March 22, 2015

Nawa3em/Comfort steals Metlife! (UPDATE)


At face value (sorry bad pun), the Nawa3em produced, Comfort branded video for mother's day is awesome - the cast is impeccable, the story plausible, the settings compatible with the socioeconomic class being depicted. I only have an online link to it, but no downloadble version.
So why am I raising red flags? Because it is a frame per frame copy of the ad above by Metlife - universally known and adored as - "my father is a liar". The creative concept is the same, most scenes and the copywriting are even too close to be independent!... In short, a beautiful movie by nawa3em (branded Comfort) but it s still a copycat and a theft.

UPDATE:
I owe a direct apology to Johnny Abdo, director of the Nawa3em/Comfort movie, in the final credits, Abdo specifically mentions the creative source of his material, in his own words: "We contacted the original director and we told him we wanted to adapt the script and film a lebanese version of it."
In other words, the movie was not stolen, but the original holder of the idea was notified, and moral permission was granted and received. What do you know? Such people do exist in Lebanon! Once more an apology is owed and one is given.
Before anyone jumps to conclusions of how I am being biased, apologizing to Johnny Abdo and still Butchering BBDO for their Jeita ad blunder, the difference is that BBDO did not contact Steven Spielberg to obtain rights to adapt his work.
Below is the screenshot mentioning the credits.

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