"Don't Imitate, Post Deleted After 2 Weeks"‥LG Electronics Faces Advertising 'Plagiarism Controversy' in Brazil
by Park Joonyi
by Jang Heejun
Published 13 Mar.2025 15:55(KST)
Updated 14 Mar.2025 14:39(KST)
Refrigerator Door Ad Featuring Customers' Memory Photos
Local Company Planned Similar Campaign a Year Earlier
LG Electronics Posted a Comparable Ad One Year Later
Regulatory Body: "Consumer Confusion, Video Must Be Halted"
Last year in Brazil, LG Electronics reportedly deleted a social media advertisement following a plagiarism dispute with a local home appliance company.
According to the home appliance industry and foreign media on the 14th, the Brazilian Advertising Self-Regulation Council (CONAR) judged LG Electronics' refrigerator advertisement posted on its Instagram in April last year as "unfair competition" and decided to halt the advertisement.
Brastemp, a Brazilian home appliance manufacturer, aired an advertisement showing a refrigerator with family memory photos attached, and later filed a complaint with the council claiming that LG Electronics posted a similar concept advertisement on Instagram.
In 2023, Brastemp ran the "Refrigerator Door" campaign on TV and social media, expressing consumers' sentimental memories through photos and notes attached to refrigerator doors.
The advertisement gained popularity and was re-aired around April last year. In the same month, LG Electronics posted an Instagram advertisement video that also featured a scene with family photos attached to its refrigerator.
Brastemp reportedly claimed that LG Electronics plagiarized the concept to confuse consumers familiar with its campaign. On the other hand, LG Electronics argued that the theme had already been used by other advertisers and that there was no exclusive right to use the concept.
In the first trial, the council judged that LG Electronics' advertisement showed very similar characteristics to Brastemp's advertisement, which could confuse consumers, and therefore the video should be stopped.
LG Electronics filed an appeal, but the second trial also concluded that the settings and concepts of the two advertisements were similar.
At the time, the council stated, "Since Brastemp does not have exclusive rights to the refrigerator image, LG Electronics can use emotional messages, sentimental elements, and storytelling related to attachment," adding, "However, the advertisement was stopped to prevent consumer confusion."
LG Electronics accepted the council's decision and deleted the post two weeks after the advertisement was posted. An LG Electronics official explained, "This is not a plagiarism issue; rather, there was an interpretation that Brastemp does not have exclusive rights," and added, "It seems to be a kind of check."
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