cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/1977881
Excerpt:
Banksy isn’t happy with Guess’ latest collaboration.
The legendary anonymous graffiti artist had a directive for his followers on Friday, encouraging them—possibly tongue in cheek, possibly not—to visit the Regent Street Guess store in London and steal the brand’s new collection that features his artwork.
“Attention all shoplifters. Please go to Guess on Regents Street. They’ve helped themselves to my artwork without asking, how can it be wrong for you to do the same to their clothes?”
Nov 18, 2022
Thanks. I was wondering if this was old news or had happened again.
There must be top-post bots working through old Reddit posts.
This community needs quality control.
Nice, stealing from multinational conglomerates is never morally wrong and should always be encouraged.
But think of the shareholders!
You. I like you.
Remember! If you see someone shoplifting, you didn’t.
If it’s someone stealing food and basics then yeah, but if it’s bored kids stealing fashion then they can fuck off. Don’t use the excuse of “sticking it to the man” to justify bring a bellend.
What, some kids stealing those clothes, of which half that aren’t sold will be shipped directly to a landfill?
Yeah, we gotta step up our game protecting that shit
You’d call cops on children lol
I’d probably just tell them to fuck off home if I was feeding particularly ballsy. Where do you live where the police are well-funded enough that they’d have time to deal with something as small-time and irrelevant as this?
IT IS MY DUTY AS A CITIZEN TO PROTECT TARGETS BOTTOM LINE
What so worst case scenario Walmart family is 0.0001% less rich?
Literally harming no one, get off your high horse if you got enough money to afford shit (yes even cosmetics some people value)
Companies look at shrink and if the margins are too high, they will close the store. It hurts communities if the store they need to purchase food from closes. This is especially problematic in poor communities where not everybody has easy transportation.
That’d be like a LOT of stealing tho. Avg Walmart pulls in $1mil A WEEK.
This is even more so in small towns where they were easily able to secure a monopoly, so for operating one store they’re able to be the only option for a whole town - and they’d have to choose to throw away a perfectly functional source of revenue.
There’s a reason many internet companies are expanding rural, its a larger more spread out market
People are stealing a lot. Saying it harms nobody isn’t correct. In the twin cities we’ve had a Aldi, Walmart and Walgreens all close within the last year. All of them were located in areas with a majority of people being on the poorer side of things. If people bought their groceries at Walmart, now the closest place is Cub which is about 6 miles away. That can be a 30-35 minute difference if you don’t have a car and Cub is much more expensive. I’m not defending corporations but they aren’t going to stay if people are stealing too much. Look at all the companies leaving in San Francisco and Portland.
I think you’re missing my point. If you have so little money that you need to steal just to get by then society has failed you and fuck the corpos trying to keep you down. On the other hand, if you’re well off enough that you can spend your time posting online from your smartphone about how cool it is to nick designer fashion and cosmetics then you’re probably a poser who believes in nothing but getting stuff for free. I imagine there are a few people upvoting the original comment who take their beliefs quite seriously and spend their time doing real activism for social change, however I reckon most of them are edgelords who need to grow up and realise they’re not Robin Hood.
Nah but I do believe there is a gray area. Sure most people have a probably pretty modern phone and computer, but like is living large??
I couldn’t get a job today without a PDF formatted resume and attached phone number, I could have to decide between paying my phone bill and spending money on something I actually care about instead of just handing it off to a super company .
I don’t believe it is even slightly morally wrong to steal just for ones own mental peace of mind, we can probably forgoe a superyacht so some of us to not solely exist for labor
Does he have an agent or somebody who can be contacted? Not justifying the shop from doing this but how would somebody seek his permission?
Who Banksy? because he has clearly given his permission in the form of a press release
So Banksy has gven his moral ascent to anyone stealing from that shop although obviously Banksy doesn’t have the legal right to do that and you will still get in trouble if the police catch you but the police in the UK don’t investigate shoplifting less than £200. Although they recently have been told to crack down on all shoplifting so that might change.
But the shop doesn’t have the legal right to have banksy’s stuff either… is it really stealing if the owner of the art says ‘take it, it’s free’?
Well maybe in an equal system here, but guess has more money so they’re our royalty apparently
Now that’s just silly. You should be stealing from any store that has a “collection” regardless of whether they used his art.
Fastest conversion from downvote to upvote record holder
Don’t need encouragement, but the thoughts appreciated.
Doesn’t Banksy’s entire schtick hang on “helping himself” to a “canvas?”
There’s a legitimate discussion to be had about whether not he should be doing that, but to compare it to a multinational corporation profiting off of clothes depicting his work without his permission is pretty disingenuous.
This is not me saying people should go shoplift nor is it me saying that Banksy isn’t a whiner.
From zero to bad faith accusations in one comment, bravo c/unitedkingdom.
I’m not sure where the bad faith accusation is. You’re saying that because of the way he operates, they get to use his work without his permission on physical products they sell for profit. If this is incorrect feel free to explain what you meant.
You made no bad faith argument here. Your response for further discussion was a great prompt and right in line with this thread but clearly they don’t want to engage.
I really dislike this trend of responding to comments with the red badge of “bad faith argument”. It is awfully dismissive, particularly without saying why, like in this case here. Best case, they may expect that you know exactly why you are being accused of that and want to shut down bad faith arguing, but if you have no idea why, it’s really just meant to insult or harm. Ironically, accusing someone of a bad faith argument without explaining why may be considered bad faith arguing.
Sorry you got a response like that. I thought your response was good, thoughtful and good attempt at more discussion. I agree and don’t have much to add, unfortunately, but just wanted to support your post.
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My brother in christ the art sells for millions…
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What are you talking about? Are you triggered?
nahhhh. we know who he is, and he collaborates with local authorities to put up his art. and retains all rights to it of course.
so he is actually very justified in feeling this way because he unironically greatly benefits from the commercial side of things.
of course, he still wants us to think this is some counterculture shit.
I don’t know that this is strictly true, he has had works painted over before and notably had a rivalry with that Manchester King fella and they re did each others works regularly.
Yeah and the rappers that make diss tracks about each other totally hate each other too, it’s not for publicity at all, they’d really kill each other if only they had a chance. Too bad they’re too busy making millions.
That’s not what I’m saying, I think you’re being intentionally negative and obtuse. Yes there is a commercial aspect, no it not a given that everything he does is with the approval of local governments.
He didn’t stand to gain anything by feuding with the other street artist.
Also there are lots of hiphop feuds that do famously bleed into real life and too many have died. Are there people who use this narrative to further their careers, yes but it doesn’t make everything fake.
He stands to gain attention and notoriety, which is why he does everything he does. As does the other street artist. If you don’t think it was a publicity stunt fine, I certainly can’t prove it was, but that’s what I believe.
Yeah but different rules for him, right?
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But why not the opposite! /s
I definitely wouldn’t get a Flipper Zero for the purposes of theft. Allegedly it is a legal device that can be re-programmed to disable security tags and open charging ports on Tesla vehicles, which is wrong.
Definitely do not purchase a Flipper Zero and utilize it for theft or disruption. Its purposes are to open garage doors.
You don’t need to reprogram the Flipper Zero for Tesla charging ports. Just get the Sub-Ghz signal from the internet and store it on the Flipper.
I definitely never done it myself, of course.
oh nooo. Poor bansky. This has ruined my day. Kids are crying now.
This comment is peak comedy why are you guys downvoting this
Well, it took a whole 2 months, but at last “why all the downvotes?” / “downvoted for the truth smh” / etc. has reared its head in my feed again.
What transpired here was a fucking travesty. OP was robbed of the critical acclaim that they deserved for their short form original comedy routine and instead they were met with nary more than silence, broken only by the left-mouse-button click of disapproval.
Until our deuteragonist, @Blake (PBUH) entered the tale, turning those unwashed, downvoting masses aside, to extend the open hand of succour to the hero of this story, to be the rock that the chaotic waves break upon, and yet the solid foundation upon which civilisation can be built.
Sir, ma’am, or neither, I say to you - perhaps to you I am but the deliverer of a nearly-forgotten refrain, a creature of yesteryear, attempting to re-establish traditions which should be confined to the annals of history. But do not forget that one of our kindred reached out to touch the minds and souls of their fellow human, thinking that their wit and comedy would be appreciated at least by some, and until my timely arrival, they were ignored and rejected. Put yourself in their shoes.
I choose to imagine that reading my comment, an expression of gratitude in the desolation of coventration hitherto experienced, was akin to the Sun rising on the horizon after a long, cold night.
What I’m trying to say, my dear friend, is this: “lol, lmao”
Aite, I’ll admit it. That was funny lol
I shouldn’t have said anything. I’m just being a snippy redditor with the above comment myself. Have a good one man
Nah no worries, you’re all good, no need to apologise, I’m only playing <3. Thanks & you too!
(PBUH) was very good here.
Will he pay their legal fees if someone gets arrested?
No, but Elon Musk will promise to pay your legal fees then double back on it.
Elon Musk will give your info to the Saudi government
His celebrity status depends on hyperbolic rhetoric like this. If he had handled it the way normal people do, through courts, he’d be damaging his mystique. The sheep that think he’s the bee’s knees slurp this bullshit up.
So? Is he wrong?
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Corporations don’t deserve that right. His stance on this is directly related to corporate abuse of the system. Nuance is difficult though so I understand why it’s easy for you to feel like you made a good point.
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I can’t say legally since I’m not a lawyer but I don’t think much of people who suggest you do (crime) because (crime) occurred. I consider it a low-end mentality to view that as a resolution or justice of some kind.
I don’t think that it’s a resolution or justice, I think it’s funny ^^
Not as funny as a person adept at using stencils to paint on other people’s property getting upset someone used his stenciling on their property, IMHO.
Or maybe the ultimate troll artist, is fucking trolling. Perhaps making a joke about stealing their stuff because they stole his.
Perhaps. He’s super-clever like that.
Imagine obliquely calling someone basic when you had to have their point explained
Jesus Christ you are a moron.
The motherfucker is a stooge of the system man! Probably got more lawyers than John Gotti lol.
I support people painting on gray walls in cities!
I support it if it’s what the people want.
As I support a company’s right to use the likeness of illegal graffiti on their clothing.
So you’re a bootlicker? A fascist? You honestly prioritize corporate profits over public art? Fuck you.
fair
Yes.
Banksy is a complete fucking poser, true, but also shoplifting is good.
Let people enjoy things
If he had handled it the way normal people do, through courts
There is more to it than that. He’s been blocked from claiming the copyright on his own work since he’d need to dox himself. He can’t claim the copyright as ‘Banksy’ since it’s not his real name.
It’s a joke.
I’m from the UK and I have no idea who Guess even are, so they can’t be that big of a deal. I won’t support them anyway… if I ever see them haha.
A quick search and it looks like the Mike Ashley owned House of Fraser sells them. So double win.
Who owned what?
Mike Ashley owns House of Fraser (it’s a department store in the UK)
https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/national/22314678.mike-ashley-controversial-retail-magnate/
Also visit other stores as well 🫡
This is horrifying. There’s no good reason to ever steal from a store, period.
Actually, stealing from a corporation is always good under all circumstances. Everything they have is obtained by theft.
That’s wrong, stealing from a business is never ok. Businesses are what give people jobs and money, and you think it’s ok to just go around taking even more from them? After everything they have done for you? The owner of this shop can probably barely afford to make ends meet. When you steal a Banksy shirt you’re basically stealing food from that business man’s many children. Just because you love Banksy shirts so much. Think about that.
Everything they have is from theft? Wrong, they buy that stuff from other countries like Bangladesh (where they are also creating jobs by the way).
Damn nice bit, I had to read 2 times before I decided it was a bit.
How about having a bit of respect for the law?
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Important to understand that every instance of mugging, shoplifting etc combined is less than half of what’s stolen by employers via wage theft. In addition, wage theft is virtually never punished with prison time, unlike shoplifting or larceny.
Shirts are not people, not animals, not priceless relics, just commodities. Direct your ‘horror’ at an actual evil that affects your fellow humans rather than a minor loss of revenue from stolen property.
You’re definitely confused. The number one type of theft is people stealing from shops and businesses. It happens all the time! Sometimes people come in a big group and run through the whole store stealing stuff just for the fun of it. You see it every day on the news.
Wage theft? I’ve never even heard of that on the news at all, it’s not happening every day like shop theft. But it is a problem. I have employees that I pay 8 hours of wages to and sometimes when I look at the security cams I see that they actually spent several hours sitting around chatting to each other instead of working so yes, it happens. But people stealing from the shop is still the worst kind of theft possible.
lmao almost got me, was about to rant until I saw the nickname
shaping up to be an all-time bit account
horrifying
HAHAHAHAHAHA fuck off mate lmao
These damn commies have no respect for hard work.
stealings a tough job m8
Horrifying? Really?
You live such a disgustingly sheltered life that someone stealing fancy clothing is horrifying??
Stealing anything from a store is the worst thing anybody can do
lmao good bit, fell for it
Stars is a banger tbh
Except when that store is a big multinational that pays their employees the bare minimum for stuff that costs pennies to make but is sold for half their monthly income.
That’s even worse because that store employs so many people, when you steal from that store it’s hurting all of those employees
Banksy believing in intellectual property 🏴☠️
Is it not copyright infringement?
Also I don’t believe in either but will happily use both to fuck over rich corpo pigs from commercialising my work without permission or compensation.
Copyright infringement is the jaywalking of ideas
That’s a pretty great analogy.
No since Banksy doesn’t have any copyrights. Being anonymous has it downysides…
So as far as I know he has neither copyright nor trademark to use. Not a fan of big companies either but Banksy is far away from impoverished.
Did he ever say anything else about it? You can get banksy prints and other stuff featuring his artwork everywhere and they never seemed much bothered about it, maybe he just dislikes Guess
I don’t know, I was just making a joke
