Banksy Encourages Fans to Shoplift After Claiming Guess Store 'Stole' His Artwork for a Campaign The street artist is known for anonymity.
By Emily Rella
Opinions expressed by BIZ Experiences contributors are their own.
Banksy, an artist known for anonymous performative street art, is taking it up with fashion retailer Guess after the artist claimed that the company was using their artwork without permission.
The artist took to Instagram to rile up fans where he encouraged viewers and followers to shoplift from a Guess store located on Regent Street in London.
"They've helped themselves to my artwork without asking, how can it be wrong for you to do the same to their clothes," the artist penned over an image of the store which features a mural by the artist in the display window.
The post has since garnered over 1.7 million likes, with many taking to the comments to back Banksy and point out how artists are often falling victim to their work being stolen and used without their permission.
"Thank you for raising awareness of copyright theft! It's no different from material theft yet people act like they're entitled to your work somehow," one photographer named Andrew McCarthy wrote. "A big corporation knows better, they just thought they could get away with it which makes this so much worse."
The mural used by the store was one of Banksy's better-known works, titled "Love is In The Air (Flower Thrower)" which features a masked man in black and white about to throw a bouquet of flowers that are depicted in color.
Guess was using Banksy's work as part of a marketing campaign to advertise its new collaboration with BRANDALISED, a company that licenses graffiti pieces for affordable priced items.
The artwork has since been removed from the store which shut down temporarily following Banksy's post.
Security was reportedly stationed outside.
Guess has not yet formally addressed the situation publicly.
