DADBOD hit producer and Barry Crocker slam Step One underwear ad

Crooner Barry Crocker has support in his fight with Step One underwear, as a music video producer claims the undies brand is copying his work.

Singer Barry Crocker is not the only one who has been getting his knickers in a knot over advertising by Step One undies.

The Daily Telegraph revealed this week that Crocker, 86, was unhappy the Aussie underwear brand was using his name as rhyming slang for shocker in its ads without paying him a fee.

“They didn’t even offer me a free pair of Reg Grundys,” he complained, using rhyming slang for undies.

Now an independent music producer is claiming Step One has copied its concept and music for an ad based on its comedy video called DADBOD.

Ben Hense, from independent recording studio Beattank Productions, wrote and produced DADBOD in 2018 with a swag of scantily clad, far-from-catwalk material dancers with Dad bods.

A video grab from the Step One underwear range. Picture: Instagram

Hence said a friend later told him to look at the Step One ad. “Lo and behold, when I finally looked it up the similarities with the song, the choreography, the visuals and the concept were unmistakeable — it was DADBOD through and through,” he said.

Like Crocker, he is unhappy about the unpaid use of his material.

Grab of the DADBOD music video. Picture: Instagram

“It’s a slap in the face to have your work stolen from you to line the pockets of somebody else, let alone a major company like Step One,” he said.

“They’re trading on their folksy, likeable, good guy image, so it’s particularly crap that they’re not fussed about totally ripping off independent artists.”

However Step One, which claimed its Barry Crocker ad could be referring to anyone with that name rather than just the singer, was unrepentant.

The Step One underwear ad. Picture: Instagram

Founder and chief executive Greg Taylor said: “Instead of paying a big agency to write a song for us, we instead commissioned and paid a local artist who had been struggling for paid work for two years during Covid to write a song from scratch specifically for the video.”

He confirmed he had received legal letters from Hense, and said he had directed him to get in touch with the artist directly.

“We don’t see how this matter is relevant to Step One other than the person mentioned above is agitating for Step One to pay it a fee,” he said.

“In a time when everyone was trying to help each other out, I never thought we would become entangled in accusations.

“You learn something new every day I guess.”