You might have seen T-Mobile’s take on the Royal nuptials:

…but have you seen the original video from which the German phone giant shamelessly ripped off not only the concept but most of the choreography? T-Mobile seem to be betting you haven’t; with 65 million views that’s quite the gamble.

Jill and Kevin’s brilliant wedding entrance dance was posted to YouTube in 2005 and, since then, has raised over $34,000 for the Sheila Wellstone Institute, which works to train and empower survivors and advocates to end domestic violence.

T-Mobile have taken a video that is not only a brilliantly creative, and not just an expression of love between two people, but also now a contribution to the fight against domestic violence, and turned it into a commercial opportunity, apparently without even asking.

T-Mobile can easily afford to pay for this intellectual property.

Please email T-Mobile asking that they match Jill and Kevin’s donations to the Institute so far. I’ve pre-filled that form but you can edit the message, and you can ignore the phone contract questions if you select “Account related issue: No” at the top of the form.

If you enjoyed either or both of these videos, please also consider donating to the Sheila Wellstone Institute yourself. With luck, we’ll soon get T-Mobile to double your gift.

I leave you with the Copycunts blog’s laser-guided response to T-Mobile’s cringeworthy ‘making of’ video:

“It’s based on the phenomenon of wedding entrance dances…”

Is it? Is it fucking really? Or is it stolen wholesale from a specific wedding entrance video which has had over 60 million views on YouTube, you cunt?

Please retire, preferably from life, A-fucking-SAP.

Email T-Mobile here.
Donate to the Sheila Wellstone Institute here.