I haven’t posted a critique on motion graphics in a while, and I know how much you have all waited and pined for another so here it is. What is the deal with all these commercials stealing their ideas from viral videos? (she says in her best Seinfeld voice). I get that it’s kind of cute and funny in an inside joke sort of way. One of the funniest music videos is Weezer’s Pork and Beans. This is mainly because they’re intentionally taking the viral videos that we all know and love and using that as a media.

What bothers me are the commercials that steal concepts from viral videos and it is unclear if they’re trying to be cute and pay homage to the original or if their just blatantly ripping it off. The video “Drive Through Rap” was remade into a commercial for Taco Bell. Personally I don’t think this is an homage, this is just a rip off.

Recently I saw a stop motion commercial that looked suspiciously like the animations from BLU. In this case I’m not so sure this was a rip off, because BLU themselves may have been responsible for the commercial. I unfortunately don’t know enough about the company (or who the commercial is for) to say for sure.

If any of you know any more please let me know. I am constantly amazed by the impact that YouTube has on our culture. (Please note, I intentionally left out the sand art commercial because I wasn’t sure if that was a viral video before or after the commercials — or if it counts as a viral video.)