‘Retract or face legal action’ Leo Burnett to filmmaker

(Marketingmagazine.com.my) – By: Malati Siniah

In response to the allegations by Tan Chui Mui and Da Huang Pictures, Leo Burnett Malaysia has come out to say that a demand letter had indeed been issued by their lawyers to independent filmmaker and the agency was serious about taking legal actions.

Last weekend Tan Chui Mui accused the agency of plagiarising her idea for their Petronas 2016 Chinese New Year ad, Rubber Boy, which was recently shortlisted for the Cannes Lions award.

According to the agency, they had chosen to officially announce their legal actions due to Chui Mui’s claims that included ‘I can’t believe how an Ad Agency like Leo Burnett can just use my story without asking my permission’ on social media from 24th June to 27th June 2016.

Leo Burnett shared that despite earlier explanations to Da Huang Pictures that their treatment and the Rubber Boy web film had different storylines, Tan Chui Mui continued to make these false allegations through her Facebook page.

In its statement, the agency reiterated that the key elements including the message, the characters, the setting in the rubber estate and the emotions, are very much a part of the agency script, which was shared with three directors in 2014 including Da Huang. Neither Tan Chui Mu nor Da Huang Pictures furnished those key elements.

Highlighting that they were taking the issue to court, the agency shared in its statement,

“There appears to be an intention to cause damage to the Leo Burnett’s reputation and that of its clients through these social media postings, which were shared and later picked up by In order to safeguard Leo Burnett’s name and reputation, and that of its clients, Leo Burnett has no alternative but to initiate legal proceedings if Tan Chui Mui or Da Huang Pictures refuse to retract the statements. Leo Burnett views these allegations seriously and will leave it to the courts to decide on the matter.

Yesterday the director of ‘Rubber boy’, Ismail Kamarul took to social media to voice his opinions on the issue and expressed his dissapointment that his creation was now ‘Tainted with allegations and accusations.’

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