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September 14, 2005

It does happen.

We talk a lot about creative coincidences in the advertising business. You know what we're talking about -- ads that look, feel, and smell alike. I'm not talking about advertising that blends together, like the majority of unremarkable ads we see today on TV. I'm talking about ideas that have been used before, or ads that reminds us of other ads. And then the discussion turns into "was this plagiarism? or just two people having the same idea in different parts of the world?" There are at least two very good websites that collect those very kinds of ads.

If you read the comics in today's paper, it's very probable you saw an instance of creative coincidence right before your eyes, possibly on the same page, as the Pearls Before Swine (one of the best strips in syndication nowadays) and the (classic) Non Sequitur strips featured the very same joke. Check it out for yourself (click to enlarge):

Pearlsbeforeswine_1
Nonsequitur_1
Since these came out on the same day (and since we tend to not believe in mind reading), one can only chalk this up to creative coincidence.

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