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Introduction:
Further information:
NOTE: Although this is a site about the Spice Girls, and not a very serious matter, it is only intended to contain correct facts and information. Much of which is already well known by many people through the media. What makes this website unique, is that it is the only actual website about this subject. |
Why is this site offending the Spice Girls?
It's not about offending the Spice Girls. But rather about defending Jem and it's
trademarks and copyrights. It's not anywhere near as
rude as an actual hate-site about the Spice Girls would be. It's sticking to facts, and
doesn't complain on, or make fun of every aspect of the Spice Girls.
Why would the Spice Girls want to be like a cartoon or dolls?
Ask them!
And how serious was the Spice Girls image compared to a cartoon anyway?
Using features from Jem is obviously not the same as using features
from the Smurfs (no offense smurflovers).
Maybe they like Jem. Alot of famous singers and actresses have said they do,
like Destiny's Child, Gwen Stefani, Shampoo and Kirsten Dunst.
Jem was a finished concept.
The Jem TV-series and books explored a world of and many
themes and scenarios in the music industri. Jem was created by alot of people,
and when copying you only need to pick out what you like.
On top of that, copying a cartoon is not as obvious as copying non-cartoon singers, so it's easier to get away with.
How do you explain these similarities?
Are you saying Mel B changed her skincolor from white to black, and
Emma changed her last name?
No, of course not. But the Spice Girls group didn't grow up like a
plant. They were put togheter after features they had or could be
added. If the intention is there, it might
aswell have been since the Spice Girls were put togheter. Because that's where
the suspicious similarities begin.
Didn't the Spice Girls just follow the market?
The Spice Girls always claimed they were unique, that they invented all of those
features which got them the attention, like the phrase "Girl Power" and their image,
and they claimed that no girlgroups were around when they came along.
But the Spice Girls weren't forced to market it that way. Everyone who has that
target audience does not have to do the same or similar. Sure we can
generalize it to make it all sound unavoidable, some colors, pop, but
that's not a finished concept. Lets stick to the finished concepts
and compare those.
Was the intention of the Spice Girls only to copy Jem?
Aren't these similarities weak enough to have been coincidences, or subconscious?
No, it's not possible to only copy, and that's not what this site says.
While coincidences and exceptions do exist, this site concentrates on
suspicious similarities.
Of course it didn't have to be so formal. The Spice Girls wouldn't have
to have big meetings to look through Jem episodes and discuss what to
copy, and that is not what this site says.
But if the Spice Girls "subconsciously" copied Jem, how
could this many detailed similarities have leaked out
of their minds? Looks more like a conscious act.
The similarities between Jem and Spice Girls are now enough
to be against the law in several cases.
It's about crossing a line, breaking trademarks or copyrights,
and copying whenever they find something they like or find useful.
Even subconsciously, breaking a trademark is definitely against the law,
and earning many millions makes it even worse. It's quite questionable that it was just
their subconsciousness who wanted to make all those millions.
Did the Spice Girls really control their own career moves?
The ideas might have originated from a manager or just one
of the members. But the Spice Girls surely were controlling in those days.
They created special rules for photographers and even for the meetings with their own fans.
When they had dolls made of themselves, they demanded that Victoria's doll would be
remade to resemble her more. So apparently they cared quite alot about their
dolls even. They actually left their management twice to get more power, until they
controlled just about everything around them themselves.
What makes the Spice Girls stand out among groups who copy?
Did you ever hear the expression "several wrongs doesn't make a
right"? They don't have to stand out as long as they're are doing
something wrong and illegal.
Yet this amount of similarities makes them stand out strongly.
They may not be the group who copied most of another group in all
history. Or maybe they are. And you can't count imitators, cause they don't
hide their origin.
But this situation is a very coward attempt to cash in on something that
isn't as known worldwide.
Didn't Jem copy the 70's doll line Darci, Barbie and the Rockers or the
real life group the Misfits?
The Darci dolls were made by the toycompany Kenner, which is part of the
toycompany Hasbro, who made the Jem dolls. Therefore they were made with similar molds.
Barbie and the Rockers were released after Jem, as a response to Jem, by
Mattel. Even the idea of fashion dolls to begin with, wasn't originating from Barbie. It is
wellknown in the history of the Barbie doll, that the creator of Barbie, Ruth Handler, got the idea
of Barbie 1959, from the German fashion doll Bild Lilli which was first marketed in Germany in 1955.
"Misfits" is a an existing word, contrary to "Jem".
The real life Misfits weren't more original with the name themselves.
Glenn Danzig, named the group after the singer Marilyn Monroe's last
completed movie "The Misfits". Although the groups share the name,
the real life Misfits don't have the same grounds.
They're a male band and they don't make the same genre of music.
The only male singing character in the Jem cartoon was the
blonde longhaired Riot, who was not in the Misfits.
However, according to a real-life Misfits site, Jerry Only, of the real-life Misfits,
talked to Hasbro about the cartoon Misfits, and a legal loophole was found.
The main writer of the Jem cartoon was asked by Jem fans about the real life Misfits
some years ago, and answered that she thought the cartoon
pre-dates the real-life group. Which it doesn't though, but the people who created the
cartoon Misfits, already had a job at a big company, and would only
have had a few years to find out about the other Misfits, and in
those years those Misfits hadn't become as generally known yet.
The Spice Girls on the other hand, were nobodies, and had 9 years to find
out every detail about Jem, or 11 years before they
released their first single, and the new group called "Jem" had 16 years.
If 'NSYNC was shaped after their initials, why couldn't the UK group
JEM have been?
In many cases where the band shaped their name after their own names,
they adjust their name slightly, because they want a certain name for
other reasons. They don't follow their own rule or go by the name
they formed their groupname by. Would they have went with something
they didn't want, just to form their name by some initals?
TLC named themselves after the first letters of their nicknames.
The name 'NSYNC was supposedly shaped after the last letter of the
members' first names. With several exceptions! Joey's name is really
Joseph, which ends with H. Chris' name is Christopher... R. So they
went with the last letter of their nicknames? No. Although Lance is a
nickname one of the members goes by, he used his real name Lansten to
get the N. Then there's JC which isn't even a nickname, but initials
used to get the C from his last name, which forces a third version
and ruins the idea, and probably is what forced him to call himself JC
(Joshua Chasez) so it would make any sense. Lots of letters to play
with.
I'm not complaining on TLC or NSYNC, but on anyone who claims that forming a name after initials is "meant to be".
How does "JEM" represent an UK girlgroup when it doesn't mean
anything? How did Jimmy Gulzar intend to get back at the Spice Girls with a
group called "JEM"? By exposing that connection to the cartoon Jem perhaps...?
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