What would Obama do? Lawyers and politics should not be mixed with the message of hope and art.

Back in 2008 when this poster came out I had very little interest and knowledge when it came to politics.  I was only 14 and I had no clue who was running for president.  I boycotted politics all together for a lot of my teenage years (until I was 18 and brainwashed into voting for Romney...lets just say ignorance is not bliss).  Anyway, my point is that although I was blind and non-existent in the world of governmental politics, I did see one thing.  I saw, just like most people in the world, this poster.  I saw a poster of a black man with a message that promised hope for our country.  It popped.  It grabbed our attention.  When I saw this poster I thought that Obama was a creative, bright, and brilliant man who knew how to campaign for himself.  Based on this poster alone.

Little did I know that some dude just grabbed an image of Obama off Google Images and edited it and then BAM became famous.  Well I guess actually not famous really, I mean have you ever heard the name Shepard Fairey?  It's not like he made millions off this poster.  Here was a guy who clearly supported Obama in the Campaign and just wanted to show his support through being creative and promoting Obama's plans for the future: Obamas plans for change which reflected the word "hope" to the American people.  Making someone, like me, see this and think "hmmm a picture of a man running for president and the word hope??"  It grabbed my attention and made me think.

The Shepard Fairey Poster taken from google images

After reading this article (http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090125/1907073531.shtml)  I was stoked to hear that Fairey didn't get in trouble over this picture in terms of Copy Right Law and plagiarism because the original photographer gave him a pat on the back for it.  He showed his support by saying, "I know artists like to look at things; they see things and they make stuff. It's a really cool piece of work."  I completely agree.  Fairey just got inspired by the photograph as well as the words from the mouth of Obama (You can't copy right words, am I wrong?? probably...) and used that inspiration to create the most famous campaign poster of 2008.

The Associated Press (the company who owns the picture, and seemingly the photographer) did end up suing Fairey, specifically his OBEY clothing company, for selling posters and clothing with the image. I think this is a perfect case where creative common laws should be used.  It would have saved a lot of trouble for Fairey and saved a lot of money for the Associated Press but it's not like they care about that.  I wouldn't expect the Associated Press to partake in having creative common laws over their photographs but I don't know.  The Associated Press stated that they will "continue to celebrate the outstanding work of its award-winning photographers and use revenue from the licensing of those photos to support its mission as the essential provider of news and photography from around the world."  http://www.obeygiant.com/headlines/the-associated-press-case-update

I interpret this statement of them having no interest in partaking in the creative common laws because they don't want THEIR work to be interpreted any other way than THEIR original intent of the photograph.  I admire Fairey and support his mission in regards to his sticker campaign, art, and his view on society.  He wants to break barriers.  :)