A sullen teen appears detached from a family get-together. For the teen, the cellphone becomes a vehicle for withdrawing from real-life interactions, which troubles his other family members.
That initial assessment is upended, however, when the ad exposes what the teen is really doing: recording the events for posterity and sharing the work with everyone else in the clan. It seems the youngster did enjoy the experience after all.
See also: Apple's Holiday Ad Has One Major Flaw
That's the plot of an ad from Universal Orlando this month. However, the rough outline mimics the creative concept behind Apple's "Misunderstood" holiday ad. YouTube commenters have noticed the similarity and are accusing Universal of ripping off the idea.
"People, please watch Apple's Misunderstood TV ad, then watch this. Universal stole the ad. Shameless," wrote commenter Francisco Salvador Velazquez.
"Wow. Same exact thing as the Apple Christmas commercial. Not like that's a bad thing. I just thought Universal would be more original than that," wrote another, acquaz10.
The criticism extended to Twitter as well.
VIDEOS : Universal Orlando and Apple latest TV commercials are oddly similar. Take a look: http://t.co/IIv39uPerF pic.twitter.com/AxYH33uG5v
— Parcorama (@parcorama) January 22, 2014
Reps from Universal could not be reached for comment. In Universal's defense, though, the ad was released less than a month after Apple's; TV ads usually take much longer than a month to create and then execute. If Universal set out to copy an ad, they would surely know that Apple fans would point out the commonalities. The girl in this ad doesn't create a video and show it on TV to the family; rather, she sends a photo with the caption, "Best vacation ever!!" Both ads address a very real scenario bound to pop up in any ad addressing family interactions.
Do you think the ads are a little too similar? Watch Apple's ad and then Universal's, below: