Xerox?

Sometimes in advertising you come across ads that are eerily similar. Is it the creative unconscious or conceptual theft? Well, there is the argument that any self-respecting creatives would never lift someone else's concept, whether it's on account of morals or the fact that they'd look pretty silly if discovered. But then there is the disturbing new trend of recycling old ad concepts from back in the day. Example, the Coke ad with the kids singing on the rooftop, recreated from an ad in the 60s for the same product. If you can recycle your own concepts, why not someone else's? Where do you draw the line? Why not cement the misconception that ad folk are dirty weasels? Me personally. I would weigh in on the side of the creative unconscious. I would like to have faith that people are continually trying to bring something new to the table and if something has similarities to something else, it is merely a coincedence or a case of poor memory. As creatives you are constantly surveying the work, seeing what's out there and new trends. It'd be pretty easy to pull something out of the memory banks and mistake it for your own original idea. However, no art is truly original. There are elements of something else in everything. It is simply inescapable. But the difference is in if you are able to combine those elements in a new and original way.