If you’re going to rip off another company’s ad, you might want to air it in a less high profile venue than, say, the Super Bowl.
Madison Avenue is buzzing about a Super Bowl spot for Coca-Cola, titled “Sleepwalker,” that bears a striking resemblance to a spot for an Israeli brand of milk that aired eight years ago.
The Coke and the Yotvat spots both feature a young man sleepwalking his way in search of a thirst-quenching beverage. Even more uncanny, both are set to Ravel’s most popular classical work, “Bolero.”
The similarities might have gone unnoticed in the US, but not in Israel, where news media picked up on the story after a side-by-side comparison of the spots was posted on YouTube.
A spokeswoman for Coca-Cola said neither the company nor the agency were aware of the Yotvat ad, which was created by Shalmor Avnon Amichay/Young & Rubicam in Tel Aviv, according to Ad Age.
As for the music, Coke said it has been on a classical music kick lately, with a couple of its recent ads set to “The William Tell Overture” and “Peter and the Wolf.”
You can judge for yourself.

