Somerset Band The Portraits Accuse John Lewis Of Copying Song For Their Christmas Advert
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A band from Somerset has accused John Lewis of copying the song they recorded for their new Christmas advert.
The Portraits, a husband and wife group from Wells, say the department store's hotly-anticipated Christmas advert has borrowed too heavily from their version of Phil Oakey and Giorgio Moroder's hit 'Together In Electric Dreams'.
Lorraine and Jeremy Millington say that the 'feeling' of their version of the 1985 song has been taken for the advert.
However, John Lewis has been quick to deny these claims, stating that 'there was no substance to the claims' and that they were 'unable to consider ideas from other external or internal sources'.
On their Facebook page, The Portraits wrote: "Our version was a fundraising song aimed at supporting bereavement and mental health organisations that have needed the money more than ever during the pandemic...
"We had a (perhaps naïve) dream that we could use a future ad by the company with our soundtrack linked to it to maximise the funds going to those charities.
"But instead, John Lewis went with the idea and produced a version borrowing the 'feeling' and many elements of the arrangement of our version, without even letting us know they were planning to do so."
Take a look at their full post below:
The band's version of the song gained some traction when it was released last Christmas and received airplay on BBC radio as well as ITV's This Morning.
In fact, they say that they emailed the song to John Lewis back in March to ask if it might work for their latest festive advert, but received no communication back.
Instead, when the advert came out it featured a version of the song performed by 20-year-old singer songwriter Lola Young.
In their full statement, John Lewis said: "There's no substance to the claims as the person contacted by email left at the start of the summer and had no involvement in this year's Christmas ad.
"The music that accompanies the ad is always the final element to be added and this year was chosen at the end of October.
"The creation of advertising and music is carried out solely by our agency and we are unable to read or consider ideas from other external or internal sources."
The advert, which is titled 'Unexpected Guest' tells the story of a young boy who introduces an alien girl to Christmas, before she then had to leave for her home planet.
Featured Image Credit: John Lewis
Topics: John Lewis, Christmas, TV and Film, Music, Weird
