Melbourne rockers Closure In Moscow are threatening legal action over an advertisement by Oklahoma-based frozen yoghurt company Orange Leaf Yogurt, which the band believes has ripped off the artwork from their most recent album, 2014’s Pink Lemonade.
As The Music reports, Closure In Moscow found out about the froyo company’s recent campaign through their US fans, and the band’s management have said in a statement:
“We are considering legal action, obviously being an independent band and suing a US company is going to be very expensive, but it would be nice if they funded a US tour for the band to apologise!”
The artwork on Closure In Moscow’s Pink Lemonade album (below) was created by Parisian artist Stéphane Casier, and the band see Orange Leaf’s advertisement for their Pink Lemonade froyo flavour as an act of imitation.
The band also took to Facebook this afternoon to share their discovery that the company had used the same artwork in a similar campaign last year, just shortly after Closure In Moscow released their Pink Lemonade album.
“Come on Orange Leaf, repent and bring us out for the CLOSURE IN MOSCOW EXTRAVAGANZA PROUDLY BROUGHT TO YOU BY ORANGE LEAF®,” the band wrote. “We’ll hand out nummy froyo as a token of good faith and forgiveness.”
Christopher de Cinque, Closure In Moscow’s lead singer, has said, “I guess it’s a testament to Stéphane’s killer work. He crushed it so hard that some cheeky slit in the design department of a company that has franchises all over the US thought it would be worth blatantly ripping off our album’s logo.
“However innocuous it may seem to be on the surface, it’s something that both the band and Stéphane spent time, money and creative energy producing. Not for them to use for a frozen fucking yoghurt flavor, which was literally a flavor of the month! Not the sexy new figurative ‘literally’ either, LITERALLY.
“I invite anyone living in the US that enjoys Closure In Moscow, to hit up Orange Leaf and tell them how naughty they’ve been, and that you think sponsoring our next US tour would be fair recompense. Heck, the cross-promotional material is already sorted!”
Closure In Moscow’s lawyer, Yasmin Naghavi, believes the band have the right to take action. “On the face of it, Closure In Moscow have a strong case to be had against Orange Leaf,” Naghavi has said, adding that the similarities between Casier’s artwork and Orange Leaf’s advertisement (below) are as follows:
The downward swash for the letters P and K;
The upward swash for the letters N and K;
The “propping” of the K on the N and the M on the E;
The replacement of the O with a lemon;
General shape and embellishment similarities between letters E, A, D;
The replacement of the arm of the L to a swash;
Overall look and feel.
Compare Closure In Moscow’s Pink Lemonade album artwork against Orange Leaf’s advertisement below, and relive the band’s performance of the album’s title track live at Music Feeds Studio.
Watch: Closure In Moscow – Pink Lemonade (Live at Music Feeds Studio)
[mfvideo yt=https://youtu.be/7FF4CMGUVKk sb=1534087]
Closure In Moscow – Pink Lemonade Artwork
Orange Leaf Pink Lemonade Advertisement (Via Orange Leaf)
So the plot thickens!! Turns out the cheeky cunts used it last year too!Come on Orange Leaf, repent and bring us out…
Posted by Closure In Moscow on Tuesday, 16 June 2015
@myorangeleaf So… US tour sponsorship for stealing our artwork? That's fair right? We haven't been over for so long…
— Closure In Moscow (@ClosureInMoscow) June 17, 2015
@myorangeleaf … We just can't really afford to after spending money on content that belongs to us. Halp?
— Closure In Moscow (@ClosureInMoscow) June 17, 2015
@myorangeleaf You had no idea did you? Someone in the design department needs a smack! Heck, it could have been beautiful cross promotion!
— Closure In Moscow (@ClosureInMoscow) June 17, 2015
@myorangeleaf Wow were you just gonna do it every year? We forgive you, get us over and we'll hand out froyo at shows pic.twitter.com/Idi4R3qrKB
— Closure In Moscow (@ClosureInMoscow) June 17, 2015
THE CLOSURE IN MOSCOW U.S. EXTRAVAGANZA (PROUDLY BROUGHT TO YOU BY ORANGE LEAF FROZEN YOGHURT MANUFACTURING CONCERN)
— Closure In Moscow (@ClosureInMoscow) June 17, 2015
