Did Pringles "Tiny hands" rip off a tumblr - or did that tumblr rip off an old Herringbone ad?

So everyone and their uncle (and by that I mean Buzfeed, Mashable, Tech-Bloggers, Mememachine, Adfreak etc) have posted about the leaked Grey Mexico Pringles ad "Tiny hands" looks a lot like the tumblr-blog "one tiny hand" I thought I'd chime in with my two cents....

My two cents buy you a clue: A reminder that the brand Herringbone won all sorts of advertising awards for "little hands" back in 2007, the three minute commercial that showed how a man who had been ashamed for his little hands all his life, finally found his calling.

Herringbone - Littel Hands - 2007

And lets not forget that Burger King ran a campaign about a guy with tiny hands, and his dad had tiny hands too.

And unlike that Tumblr site, these ads weren't just photoshopped (and copyright infringing) images on a free webhosting platform. They were client approved and paid for actual ads, so if we're gonna call a "Badlander" on the Pringles work from Grey, lets level the playing field a little and compare it to other ads, shall we?

Funnily enough, that Pringles ad which was posted on youtube is now nowhere to be found. We'll see if we can't do anything about that soonish. Prolly not, see update.

Update - now the Adfreak post has this quote from Grey Mexico:

"The work was never authorized by Grey Mexico for broadcast. We do not endorse any part of it—the idea, the content, setting or story line. It should not have entered the public domain."

Public domain? I'm sure they meant that in the sense of The state of belonging or being available to the public as a whole rather than not subject to copyright. Right? One never knows these days.

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Anonymous Adgrunt's picture
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purplesimon's picture

It's what used to be the four-year rule: when thinking of a new campaign, go back four years and pick something close to whatever you're selling and reproduce it.

Now it's the five-year rule.

purplesimon's picture

Also, Jeremy Beadle, a UK television personality with one small hand, was born in 1948. So, in my eyes, he's the originator of this meme: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Beadle#Health_and_disability

I'll shut up now.

Dabitch's picture

He he, "five year rule". So true. Skip a continent as well and you're in the clear as long as it didn't win a big international like Cannes. In other words, everything shortlisted is game.

Also, had no idea about Jeremy Beadle. Thanks for filling my head with pub-quiz trivia. I'll challenge you to a game and a pint soon.

Edit - see also man with tiny hands goes glove-shopping 2006

Tiny HandsGet More: CC Studios,Animation,Web Series

purplesimon's picture

You're on. Well, the pint bit for sure.

Ami Sanyal's picture

The video is still up on Scary Ideas: http://scaryideas.com/content/29294

Neo's picture
Dabitch's picture

SNL TINY HANDS FOR THE WIN. Kristen Wiig wigs everyone out.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/73360