T-Mobile's Super Bowl ad was accused of ripping off a viral meme
4 February 2019, 17:42
T-Mobile did actually license the viral tweet.
T-Mobile's Super Bowl commercial was accused of ripping off a famous meme and viewers were pressed. Now we know all meme creators are actually geniuses, like, just look at all the hilarious 21 Savage memes breaking the internet right now. So it's no wonder T-Mobile jumped on the bandwagon. However, there has long been an issue of meme creators not getting the cash for their jokes.
Following a performance from Travis Scott, Maroon 5 and Adam Levine's nipples (Yes, they're completely separate from the band), T-Mobile's ad aired. The commercial showed a text exchange, which read: "Hey Mike. I'm just letting you know I'm here."
Mike replied by thanking the sender and saying he'd been through it lately. The person then responds: "I meant I'm here. Outside. This is your Lyft driver."
So, T-Mobile is giving its customers one free Lyft ride in February so it was fitting. However, people instantly noticed that the exchange was similar to a viral tweet posted in December 2017.
It was a quiet car ride pic.twitter.com/F9ubGUoHAI
— decent pigeon (@decentbirthday) December 14, 2017
Needless to say, people didn't like that T-Mobile had jumped on the meme hype.
... did T-Mobile just copy a meme about Uber for its Super Bowl commercial involving Lyft..? 👀
— Justin (@justothello) February 4, 2019
So T-mobile just used a dead meme as a #SBLIII commercial 😑
— A Science Enthusiast 🚀 (@aSciEnthusiast) February 4, 2019
T-mobile really out here stealing shut meme text conversations and using it for super bowl ads 😒
— Raging_Heterophobe (@I_hate_Cishets) February 4, 2019
T-Mobile just stealing joke after joke from memes that already exist #SuperBowl pic.twitter.com/SrtxLrcN5B
— Sleepy🌶Spice (@amygimpss) February 4, 2019
AND NOW T-MOBILE STRAIGHT UP JUST STOLE A VIRAL MEME.
— Dana Schwartz (@DanaSchwartzzz) February 4, 2019
“Can I copy your homework?”
— jh (@notJHclash) February 4, 2019
“Okay yeah just change it up a bit so it doesn’t look obvious you copied.”
“Okay.”#SuperBowlCommercials2019 #TMobile pic.twitter.com/NVkP2wWP6q
Verizon is the only phone company worth a shit and their commercial was the only one worth a shit too I can’t believe T-Mobile tried using that dead meme
— SYDNEY SCHMITT (@SchmittSydneyM) February 4, 2019
T-Mobile literally just reposted this old meme and called it a #SuperBowl Ad pic.twitter.com/Jw7s4nnsc1
— UprightThumbs (@UprightThumbs) February 4, 2019
Nice. T-mobile / Lyft reusing memes about Uber 🤔🤔🤔🤔 #SuperBowl pic.twitter.com/F5HlpJkq70
— Vincent De Los Reyes (@vinncceenntt) February 4, 2019
However, according to the person who posted the original tweet, T-Mobile actually did the right thing and licensed the joke for a fee.
It was licensed, don’t worry! Love y’all
— decent pigeon (@decentbirthday) February 4, 2019
