Creative Borrowing or Copying?: The 2019 Fair Fit Controversy


The famous Malaysian couple back in 2019, who is Jofliam and Cik Epal, found themselves in the middle of a TikTok drama about whether their advertisement was original and whether it was right for them to get inspired by others. The industry is again arguing the value of inspiration in influencer content.


🎬 WHAT HAPPENED?


In 2019, the famous Malaysian influencer couple came out with a video advertisement for their slimming product as a part of their marketing launch called Fair Fit. However, some audiences were getting something familiar from the advertisement produced. 

A user uploaded a post on Twitter of a comparison between their advertisement and the Gmarket Korea advertisement featuring the stars Heechul from Super Junior and Seolhyun from AOA. Let’s examine the similarities found:



Timespan 0:12 of Heechul from the Gmarket video advertisement.
Credit: Tami Saputra on YouTube

Timespan 0:14 of Jofliam from the Fair Fit video advertisement.
Credit: FairFitHQ on YouTube

🎶 Music and Rhythm

The Fair Fit advertisement uses upbeat and catchy background music that exactly matches the vibe and tune of the Gmarket advertisement. Additionally, Jofliam’s ‘nyum nyum’ scene represents similar to Heechul’s version in terms of tone, rhythm, and words. The timing of the audio cues, such as the beat drops and transitions also matched almost the same, which gives both videos a very similar feel.


Timespan 0:01 of Heechul's and 0:30 of Seolhyun's movement from the Gmarket video advertisement.
Credit: Tami Saputra on YouTube

Timespan 0:01 of Jofliam's movement from the Fair Fit video advertisement.
Credit: FairFitHQ on YouTube

🕺 Choreography

The dance moves started with focusing on the arms, shoulder gestures, and body positions were seen similar in both advertisements. Jofliam is seen moving his shoulders up and down while crossing his arms together, mimicking the exact gesture performed by both Heechul and Seolhyun. Adding to that, the sequence and Jofliam’s playful interaction with the camera resemble the choreography done by Gmarket.


The style and actor arrangement of the Gmarket advertisement.


The style and actor arrangement of the Fair Fit advertisement.

🎨 Visual Style and Setup

Both of the advertisements used dull and neutral tone color palettes, smooth transitions, and a minimalistic design for a clean and fresh look. The lighting, cuts, and overlays used in the video editing in Fair Fit resemble the same visual style based on Gmarket, highlighting an arranged group of the same actors in the background. This shows that the video was styled in a way that made the Fair Fit video look like a reimagined version of the original.


🤔 WHAT DID JOFLIAM SAY?

After facing a huge amount of criticism from the internet, Jofliam decided to clear up his name and tried to defend their video advertisement. He said that the advertisement was an inspiration from the Korean award video they saw, and later found out that the video was inspired by the Gmarket advertisement. He added that their advertisement was also produced 2 years before the Gmarket advertisement went viral.


🌐 THE PUBLIC’S JUDGMENT

The netizens remained uncertain despite the explanation given by him. Hence, the matter of viral on social media with some users calling the official marketing team of Gmarket to check for possible copyright violations.

This also opened up a bigger conversation on social media about considerations like:
  • How far can inspiration be taken before it becomes plagiarism?
  • The blurry line between homage and outright theft in creative industries.
  • What kinds of risks influencers are up against in this digital platform.

📜 COPYRIGHT IN MALAYSIA

The Fair Fit controversy showed a lot about how Malaysian copyright issues can affect influencers and creators in real life. Here is what makes this case so relevant these days:

  • No Lawsuit But Serious Consequences
The public backlash has showed how damaging copyright disputes can be although there was no court battle involved. 
  • Fast-Moving Digital World
Content online are often spread fast and always getting inspired by other work so Malaysian creators must be inspired but not copy. 
  • Malaysia’s Copyright Act 1987
Creative works such as audio visual content and choreography receive automatic protection without needing formal registration which any unauthorized reproduction or inspired by another can be a violation with elements like music and choreography are clearly similar.

🔍 WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM THIS?

The Fair Fit controversy is more than just an influencer drama, as it is a reminder for all content creators and marketers about the delicate balance between:
  • Taking and drawing inspiration from existing work
  • Respecting intellectual property rights
  • Being original and authentic in creative content

✨ FINAL THOUGHTS

Creativity is usually built on what came before, but it needs to be creative and not go as far as plagiarism. With Malaysian influencers continuing to step on the creative world, it is essential for people to be aware and respect the copyright law in order to stay authentic and credible. Hence, creatives should uphold their moral standards and encourage new concepts to contribute in the world full of creative content.


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