|
Korea¡¯s no. 1 tire firm Hankook Tire stands accused of blatant plagiarism in its latest ad campaign. The advert unveiled at the end of March offended some sensibilities here ahead of its launch with an image of a tire peeking out of a condom wrapper and the legend, "Enjoy driving¡± -- a suggestion that a Hankook tire is to safe driving what a condom is to safe sex.
That extra publicity may have been its downfall. Netizens point out that the ad, which is pictured on all major portal sites, essentially replicates one for Goodyear Canada, which won a prize at the New York Festival in 2004. The condom wrappers are in slightly different colors, but in every other way they are much the same.
The gaffe coincides with another plagiarism controversy here surrounding Lee Hyo-lee¡¯s song ¡°Get Ya¡±, which is uncomfortably close to Britney Spears¡¯ ¡°Do Something.¡± Hankook Tire has withdrawn the ad, although an insider with the company said Hankook was ¡°unable to ascertain whether the ad was plagiarized.¡±
(enlishnews@chosun.com )
|
