Chris Riddell VS. John Lewis
Author and illustrator Chris Riddell has accused John Lewis of using the character from his 1986
children’s picture book âMr Underbedâ to create their successful recent Christmas advert released on Channel 5 on the 10th November, with their monster character âMoz the monsterâ. Not only do the characters look a like but both stories have similar beginnings. Upon coming across the advert Mr Riddell took to twitter on November 16th saying âJohn Lewis helps themselves to my picture bookâ. John Lewis responded suggesting that story lines with monsters under the bed have been around for many years and that there is no similarities between âMr Underbedâ and their Christmas advert. Overall, the author had stated that he will not be suing John Lewis for their advert.
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/john-lewis-accused-of-stealing-christmas-advert-idea-from-a-childrens-book-a3693536.html
I believe that this is not a form of plagiarism as I agree with John Lewisâ statement that story
lines with monsters under a Childâs bed is a very popular and typical tale when it comes to
children’s books and films. Riddell also agrees that this particular idea is not new, the fact that they both agree with this suggests that this is not a huge act of plagiarism. Additionally, I think this suggests that authors and companies who promote using advertisement are running out of innovative ideas, leading them to refer back to old ideas like monsters. Therefore, I believe that the author made a correct judgment not to sue John Lewis and as he further commented but to work together in the future to create something great.