The Banksy-GUESS Scandal

GUESS released a collaborative collection with Brandalised, in which art from street artist Banksy was featured. Banksy in response posted an inflammatory message to their social media encouraging their followers to shoplift from the GUESS store on Regent Street. This post will provide an overview of the situation and dissect the erratic history of statements from Banksy. From this post, you will understand this recent scandal, and why legal action coming from Banksy against GUESS is unlikely.

Many know of the elusive street artist Banksy. Rumors swirl about their identity, and their work has popped up around the world since the 90's, sparking worldwide conversations and debates. Banksy's works tend to encircle societal issues, such as migration, wars, and political decisions (or lack thereof). Banksy's most recent expose, however, was a little different. It came in the form of an Instagram post which included the following: An image of the storefront window of the Regent Street GUESS shop. Within the display window is a large-scale print of Banksy's Flower Thrower piece. An overlayed text which states "Attention All Shoplifters Please go to GUESS on Regent Street. They've helped themselves to my artwork without asking, how can it be wrong for you to do the same to their clothes?"

The collection according to a November press release from GUESS was done as a way "to offer Banksy fans affordable graffiti collectibles." The collectibles being the streetwear collection with graffiti iconography, some of which are stylized replicas of Banksy's work, such as the Balloon Girl Tee GUESS.

In the days after Banksy encouraged shoplifting at their London store, GUESS took down posts promoting the collaborative collection. Despite this, the public is still swirling with a hefty debate about artists' rights to their own work in general. This is in part because the scandal is coming off the tail winds of Cardi B’s recent legal victory involving similar conversations about Intellectual Property rights of artistic works.

This debate, and the claims that Banksy made in their post on November 18th, 2022, pose a direct contradiction to previous statements by the artist relating to the licensure of their work. The overview that follows thus signals the unlikelihood that this situation will reach any courts other than that of public opinion.

On August 5th, 2018, the artist posted a screenshot of a conversation with an unnamed person. In the image, the texter alerts Banksy to an art exhibition in Moscow that is charging people to view the artists' works and encourages Banksy to put out a press release. Banksy replies that they probably aren't "the best person to complain about people putting up pictures without getting permission." This references the way in which the artist creates their art via graffiti.

Additionally, Brandalised has been posting excerpts of quotes from previous statements Banksy has made, including excerpts from Banksy's 2007 book. The featured excerpts seem to focus on Banksy's claims that their graffiti, and any copyrighted creative work for that matter, were free for the public to use as they see fit, and that the public has the moral rights to do so. These statements reposted by Brandalised seem to be posted to defend the brands use of Banksy iconography.

If Banksy brings a suit against GUESS regarding the collaborative collection, the above statements will likely be used to argue and demonstrate that the artist’s beliefs, mode of production and insistence to remain anonymous inherently allows the works to be reproduced. This prediction can be upheld when we look at a case from last year in which Banksy brought a trademarking case against Artnet, a greeting card company. The case ruled against the artist, citing a previous statement from Banksy's 2007 book, which stated that "copyright is for losers," along with the artist's anonymity as significant deciding factors.

As this scandal progresses within the art and fashion worlds, it will be interesting to see how Banksy's previous statements, and last year's trademark dispute, will influence the implications for Banksy, shoplifters and the GUESS collection. Like most fashion scandals, I predict this conflict will blow over in the next month, and likely find resolution with the court of public opinion acting as judge, jury, and executioner, as current grounds for legal action are considerably moot.

See you soon,

Kayla

• Follow the Kayla Konnection on Instagram and Pinterest to stay up to date on more fashion and IP legal news!

• Reach out to me on email at ThekaylaKonnection@gmail.com to request features on cases and for more information.