Reddit seriously downvotes Axe ShowerThoughts ad after idea theft accusation
Deodorant brand Axe has been accused of taking a little too much inspiration from Reddit in its new advertising creative.
One Reddit contributor has taken exception to the brand’s new ‘Shower Thoughts’ campaign, which he feels steals from a post he made on the /r/Showerthoughts thread last year, according to Business Insider.
'JaSfields' filed the accusation during the weekend in the /r/PoliticalVideo thread.
It read: “I did a quick Google search of the exact wording I used excluding all results after my post and it returned nothing to do with what I posted.
“Given the number of words which exist in the English language and the number strung together in that post I'd be highly surprised if they were ever put together in that combination ever before in the history of mankind. Then again, I could be wrong, I don't know. But yeah as far as I can see the ‘exact wording’ is my idea.”
Following the accusation the ad received a lot of hate. Across 802k views it has received 18.6k dislikes and only 600 likes.
It featured the sentiment "when you're criticized for being short, they're really just saying the worst thing about you is that there isn't more of you.”
In it 5.3” basketball player Muggsy Bogues humiliated competitors on the court despite his size.
While Reddit remains a top location to derive creative inspiration, the episode shows that the Reddit community is a strong, mobilised force to make an enemy of.