Dutch filmmaker calls out AI director for ripping off KFC spot

Dutch filmmaker Joris Noordenbos has called out fellow Serbian filmmaker David Blagojevic for allegedly copying his KFC ad. In an Instagram post, Noordenbos compared his commercial made for KFC and an AI-generated film created by Blagojevic, revealing similarities between both works.

The video sees exact scenes of an African woman with an afro sitting at a skatepark scrolling KFC's menu, chicken drum sticks in oil, the creation of a burger, a KFC employee carrying a tray, a woman with short hair in a red jumper, a man in a denim jacket licking his finger, and a group of friends sharing a meal around a circular table.

Both films ended with a three-way split screen showcasing three KFC burgers. 

Don't miss: KFC Singapore embraces extra fingers and distorted hands in cheeky AI campaign

"I recently saw an AI-generated commercial by @Davinci_Production that claimed to use advanced storyboarding and detailed prompting systems. But watching it, I couldn’t help but wonder if the real prompt was just: copy this. The result looked like a carbon copy of my own films," said Noordenbos in the caption.

"There’s no doubt that AI brings both excitement and unease to our industry. I’m genuinely stoked about the new workflows and creative doors it’s opening but when it’s used like a Xerox machine and passed off as innovation, something feels off. We’re in a creative industry. Let’s use AI to elevate originality, not replicate it. Let’s help brands stand out with work that’s bold, fresh, and truly creative," he added. 

The claim comes after Blagojevic posted his speculative ad titled, "AI food and beverages test part two".

In his caption, the filmmaker said the ad has been simmering for a while and that the goal was to test the boundaries of current AI tools when it comes to photorealism in the food and beverage world, as well as to explore how well CGI and AI can merge for immersive storytelling.

"It all started analog - pen and paper sketches for the storyboard. Then came a rough lyrics sketch for a track, which I then refined with the help of an LLM and turned into a generated song using Suno - setting the tone and narrative for the storyboard," said Blagojevic.

"After some initial AI tests, I opted to quickly do the intro in 3D to allow for maximum control over the camera movements. This was followed by a deep dive into KFC’s campaign history to stay in line with their visual and tonal identity - as if this were a traditional agency-client setup. I wanted to see how far AI could go without relying on any new live-action footage," he explained.

From there, it was thousands of food images, cleanups, animation, VFX tweaks, and sound design to pull it all together, added Blagojevic. Following Noordenbos' claims, Blagojevic released a behind the scenes video explaining how the AI-generated video took more than 300 hours to complete. 

In it, Blagojevic featured a hand-drawn storyboard and revealed how he studied existing KFC campaigns to replicate the same tone and visual identity. 

"Unfortunately, this was publicly perceived as a 1:1 copy of one single KFC commercial which caused some confusion. I'd like to clarify: the intention was never to discredit or diminish anyone's work. Simply to test how closely AI can replicate high-end TV spots. That's all," read the text in Blagojevic's video. 

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to Noordenbos and Blagojevic for a statement. 

This isn't the only KFC ad to find itself in the center of attention and talking about AI in recent times. In March, KFC Singapore unveiled a cheeky AI campaign that turns one of AI's quirk - the infamous finger glitch - into a playful brand moment. 

While most see this as a flaw, KFC Singapore saw an opportunity to embrace the imperfection and give its tagline "It's finger lickin' good" a fresh spin. The campaign was created in collaboration with Havas Malaysia.

According to checks by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, the campaign caught the attention of LinkedIn users who have called the campaign "funny." Meanwhile, another LinkedIn user raised that Leo Burnett executed a similar idea for KFC the year before. The campaign created by Leo Burnett for KFC was to promote KFC’s new saucy chicken nuggets. KFC asked its fans to generate AI images of hands with more than five fingers, but the ad didn’t quite sit right with many consumers with some calling it “disgusting” and “awkward”.

When MARKETING-INTERACTIVE reached out, Havas clarified that the campaign was created as a one-day April Fool's Day promo and that is not an adaptation of another campaign. 

"The idea was conceptualised by our team. While it is a coincidence, if anything, we see it as a sign that it’s a strong, on-brand idea that resonates well within the category. We also understand from [the clients], that this was a successful promotion in terms of driving sales for April's Fools Day," said the spokesperson.

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