Is Intellectual Theft Worse than Racism?

Not long after I posted the blog on Qiaobi’s racial transformation commercial, a friend posted an Italian laundry detergent Coloreria commercial on my Facebook page. It turns out that the Quiaobi commercial is almost a shot-by-shot copy of the original Italian commercial in which a pale Italian guy gets thrown into the laundry machine and transforms into a hot black guy.

https://youtu.be/_dntfod-Cbo

Now watch Qiaobi’s copycat commercial:

https://youtu.be/1FZ4J0dbL30

What is more disturbing than the ad maker’s potential racism is the ad maker’s utter lack of originality that again stereotypes China as an artistic copycat. The QIaobi’s ad even copied the music and sound design from the original Italian ad. I really hope the Italian ad company will sue the Chinese ad maker for outright plagiarism.

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Author: Quentin Lee

Quentin Lee is an international filmmaker of mystery.

1 thought on “Is Intellectual Theft Worse than Racism?

  1. The Italian one is almost as bad in a different way. The Qiaobi ad clearly depicts the girl’s attention to solely the non-black character, which emphasizes the point that black is dirty and undesirable.

    The Italian one takes a different approach and turns the black man into a sex object performing with his muscles. Either way it strips the black character of dignity and identity.

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