Billabong Rapes… Artists and Designers
January 10th, 2008
This shit needs to stop! Johnny Cupcakes has fallen victim yet again to large corporations looking to profit off of those who don’t know any better. As you can see in the photo above Billabong recently released a shirt that is a blatant RIP OFF of a Johnny Cupcakes original that was released back in 2005. So what can we do? Well for starters spread the word… if you’ve got a blog please re-post this.
Unfortunately in today’s market… the only voice we have other than shaming Billabong… is our wallet! They cannot survive as a company or brand if we stop providing them with the means to sustain themselves… DO NOT buy their products, DO NOT wear their products, Send them and email expressing your frustration and disgust. Let them know they will never again see any of your hard earned money.
This isn’t the first time Billabong has been caught either… they did the same exact thing to Mike Giant a year or two back. Example here.
Democracy = Participation
As a community and as a society… we really need to start taking a stand and showing corporate America that we call the shots! WE DRIVE the economy… and we determine if a brand is successful or not…
Please support your local designers and retailers who carry conscious driven goods that are made and produced in an ethical manner!
4 Comments Add your own
1. Fondue | January 10th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
I do my best to support the indie artists and know whom my dollars are supporting. Yet, I suggest we contemplate the changing business model, think about the common copyrights and read The Pirates Dilemma by Matt Mason. I hope to pick up a copy this evening. I’ll let you know what I learn.
Have fun at Design Jam. Wish I was there to see all of the fabulous creatives!
2. Matt | January 10th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
F***KERS! Don’t those fools have enough duckets to drop on a designer who has some original thought? Sheesh.
3. Josholland | January 15th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
I’m not sure if Johnny Cupcakes designs anything personally. A good friend of mine did a whole line of illustrations for him and was grossly underpaid for the amount of work and revisions he expected. Not only that, but despite contract agreements on image rights, Johnny continued to use the illustrations in flash animations and web banners. This is the t-shirt industry, and this is Johnny Cupcakes. I wouldn’t get too indignant for him if I were you…
4. alex | January 20th, 2008 at 3:14 am
Stealing just seems to be part of the game. It’s bullshit but there aren’t many ways to properly retort in this type of situation.My friend Dean has been fighting with the hypsters of “Famous Stars and Straps” over an image they stole from him.That happened a year ago and he has gotten no where. Buying locally is the best answer but with the 5 percent rule of altering an image to bypass copyright (I think) there isn’t much that can be done when corporate entities steal an image or an idea.
Might be time to start curb checking,.
Leave a Comment
Some HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed