John Lewis, a department store Company, has vehemently denied copying a lo-fi arrangement of the song ‘Together in Electric Dreams’ for use on their 2021 Christmas latest advertisement. UK alt-folk duo The Portraits said, “The ad resembles the version of the Philip Oakey and Giorgio Moroder hit which they released last year for charity. The slow orchestral piano version featured their daughter on vocals. Now the John Lewis rendition, which launched last week, is softly sung by 20-year-old Lola Young.”
The group comprising of aka Jeremy and Lorraine Millington from Wells, Somerset wrote a post on Facebook where they mentioned that they contacted John Lewis in the month of March in 2021 offering their track for its consideration for this year's advertisement but it did not reply to them.
They believe that this new version of their song is borrowing the feeling and many elements of the arrangement of their own which was originally released to raise money for bereavement and mental health charities during the period of lockdown.
John Lewis said in a statement, “The duo did email one of the members of the marketing department who left the company later. There is no substance to their claims. There are other covers of the song in existence as well.” The company's new advertisement narrates the story of a friendship between a boy and an alien visitor. This was titled the ‘Unexpected Guest’.
The Portraits’ previous music video displayed several photographs of people who had died due to coronavirus and further included musical accompaniment from of Wells Lockdown Orchestra.
“Our version was a fundraising song aimed at supporting bereavement and mental health organizations that have needed the money more than ever during the pandemic,” they posted.
“We had a (perhaps naive) dream that we could use a future ad by the company with our soundtrack linked to it to maximize the funds going to those charities. But instead, John Lewis went with an idea and produced a version borrowing the feeling and many elements of the arrangement of our version, without even letting us know they were planning to do so.”
John Lewis responded by saying: "There's no substance to the claims as the person contacted by email left at the start of the summer and had no involvement in this year's Christmas ad. The music that accompanies the ad is always the final element to be added and this year was chosen at the end of October. The creation of advertising and music is carried out solely by our agency and we are unable to read or consider ideas from other external or internal sources."
Let’s hope that justice will prevail with the right and deserving one. Both of them are having huge images to look after in their respective fields. Many people must be waiting for the final stage to reach soon in this matter.
Social media is bold.
Social media is young.
Social media raises questions.
Social media is not satisfied with an answer.
Social media looks at the big picture.
Social media is interested in every detail.
social media is curious.
Social media is free.
Social media is irreplaceable.
But never irrelevant.
Social media is you.
(With input from news agency language)
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