Artists Are Trolling Online T-Shirt Brands To Prove They’ve Been Stealing Work
Image via Nirbion
If you hope to see a particular design on a t-shirt, you might want to contact its creator in private instead of tweeting a request.
This is because online t-shirt printers appear to be engaging bots to scour social media for phrases like, “This needs to be on a shirt,” or “I want this on a t-shirt.”
The artworks are then automatically turned into listings. Several of these businesses integrate their services with marketplaces like Amazon and eBay, which is why you’ve probably seen a number of questionable—oftentimes tone-deaf—designs floating around.
To test out this suspicion, illustrator Hannahdouken invited fellow Twitter users to respond to her post with something along the lines of, “I want this on a shirt.” The catch was that her tweet was accompanied with a handwritten note reading, “This site sells STOLEN artwork, do NOT buy from them!”
The tweet has amassed over 23,000 likes since then, and true enough, the satirical piece was swiftly turned into purchasable t-shirts by way of on-demand printing services Moteefe, Toucan Style, CopThis, and more, because robots cannot detect sarcasm.
The incident was chronicled by technologist Andy Baio on his blog Waxy. Baio detailed that platforms such as GearBubble, Printful, and Printly would retail non-existent t-shirt designs scraped from social media users’ comments, and then get third parties to manufacture and deliver them once customers pay for the garments.
This approach means companies can enjoy empty inventories without investing too much capital, so they’re pretty unfazed even when called out for art theft.
Following Hannahdouken’s stunt, other artists have followed suit and swindled t-shirt makers into turning criticism into apparels.
It won’t solve the problem, but this tiny victory does feel sweet.
I wanna see if the robots actually pick this up and make it a shirt, that would be lovely
— Nana (@Hannahdouken) December 3, 2019
like clockwork pic.twitter.com/KlUjkoxSBm
— Eliot (@FreightHerder) December 3, 2019
@Hannahdouken two hours ago oop pic.twitter.com/U4VpfOxujT
— 🪐 kenny (they/them) 🪐 (@spacekenby) December 4, 2019
I LOVE this artwork. Nice drawing, omg! 😍
— Nirbion (@Nirbion) December 4, 2019
I need this on a shirt!!!😻♥️ pic.twitter.com/0tfJY0t3xQ
We did it. We achieved something special. Tell your grandchildren that you were THERE when this happened.
— Nirbion (@Nirbion) December 4, 2019
Gonna mute this tweet because I'm getting WAY too many notifications, but thank you 🙏 pic.twitter.com/bkStdwOmve
This shirt was actually deleted faster then expected.
— Nirbion (@Nirbion) December 4, 2019
Most shirts are still up and are way older then this one, I wonder why...
Well, the fun continues herehttps://t.co/A8i5FKvSVr
This is so cool. I want this on a shirt. I need this on a t-shirt. Put this on a shirt. I would buy a shirt with this on it. This needs to be on a shirt. pic.twitter.com/1lDFtGUJtF
— Xydexx Unicorn 🦄💕 (@XydexxUnicorn) December 4, 2019
Hey, what's the worst that could happen, right? pic.twitter.com/82TymtcoLR
— Xydexx Unicorn 🦄💕 (@XydexxUnicorn) December 5, 2019
OMG I love this drawing!! 😍I need this on a shirt !! pic.twitter.com/WHabfCYv6L
— miski (@miskiart) December 4, 2019
@mahoumelonball@boombooshoot@charlenesketch@loafeoil@replicant41@RedZoneRandR@andimjustalex@SoWMontaru@cherubimon_@yayannabelle@djguthrie5@Craiyg9047@vann5737@zachunterguy@acorbeil29 Shirt herehttps://t.co/9Ah9ILI9BP
— Harry (@Harry15850449) December 4, 2019
So since these art-stealing bots are tracking your text and not reply images, I made this for you guys!
— nakanoart (@nakanodrawing) December 4, 2019
If you want something from ANY creative made into a shirt, you can use this image to tell the artist you want to buy it. So you don't need to type it out ❤️ pic.twitter.com/E9Mn2GILcb
[via Waxy, images via various sources]
