American Express is running a new commercial to promote its purchase protection service. The spot uses a series of images featuring everyday objects or scenes that resemble a sad face or happy face (see the screen grab above.) It’s a nice spot. Simple and well executed. But here’s the rub and the reason for this post. When we viewed it on YouTube we saw a comment from someone accusing AmEx of ripping off the concept of a site called Faces in Places and failing to credit the site and its contributors. As you might imagine, FacesInPlaces.com is a site that features images of faces in everyday places. It’s a lot of fun. Maybe AmEx’s agency knew of this site. Maybe they didn’t. But let’s assume they did and it inspired them or they simply “lifted” the concept. Do they owe the site credit? Is the act of recognizing the image of a face in a pumpkin suddenly the intellectual property of FacesInPlaces.com? No. AmEx is not going to use a second of its sixty to say, “Thanks FacesInPlaces.com!” Nor should it. Just as every movie with a Cinderella story doesn’t credit every Cinderella story that came before it. We understand that person’s beef, and it’s a debatable issue, but man would never have flown without seeing the birds first. What’s your take?