Sexy massage video: a sense of déjà vu?

Singapore - A hilarious viral video showing an older man being harassed by models in promotion of a new jobs community site has drawn flak for being strikingly similar to an earlier ad of another job site made in Brazil.While the video promoting jobiness.com.sg has gone viral since it was published on 18 November (reaching close to just under 1 million views so far), critics are saying it is a rip off of an earlier ad made in 2009 in Brazil for another job site, Dreamjobs.com. The earlier video was made by Borghierh/Lowe.The local video, which shows an older man working as a massage therapist for models complaining about his job and wishing for a 9 to 5 desk job in Hokkien, was strikingly similar in script and storyline to the Brazilian one, and several net users have accused the ad of being a copied idea.When reached by Marketing, a Jobiness spokesperson said it was a matter of perspective, saying that there is a fine line between "geographical adaptation" and copying. "The award winning show Departed, was a clear geographical adaption of the Hong Kong movie Infernal Affairs. How many times has the movie Spiderman been reproduced? Viewership is the yardstick for endorsement, not critics' comments."The spokesperson also added this video, which is a sequel to the previous one for Everijob (an earlier jobs site by Jobiness), is very original and there is no other video in the world that came up with this story line.The video was created by XXX Studios, added the spokesperson. Local creatives Marketing spoke to have also slammed the ad. " So if I were the CD who approved this piece of work (err, I mean reproduction), I'd be rather worried and looking at lots of job sites," said Elliot Townson, creative partner at Untitled.Patrick Low, founder and creative partner of Goodfellas said that while the ad will resonate with the younger audiences because it is humorous and risqué, it is a pity that it is not original.The site is a jobs community where users can find salaries, company reviews, office photos, interview questions and more, posted by employees. Company information is also featured on the site.Jobiness.com.sg will also use social media, direct marketing and mobile advertising to reach members, said the spokesperson.