HOPE

Shepard Fairey's HOPE poster was a crucial advertisement in Barrack Obama's 2008 Presidential Campaign, and continues to leave a lasting effect on the general community. This single image was reproduced over 800,000 times during the campaign alone. Fairey's red, white, and blue style has been used on many sites such as obamiconme to recreate one's self in the same way. Through all the positive recognition and advertisement brought about for both Obama and Fairey, there are arguments condemning and discrediting Fairey's work due to the fact that he "stole" the original picture from Mannie Garcia.

Shepard Fairey may have used the picture, but I believe that he did not violate the Fair Use Law. Garcia himself states that, "If you put all the legal stuff away, I’m so proud of the photograph and that Fairey did what he did artistically with it, and the effect it's had". Garcia had originally taken the picture for an assignment under the direction of the Associated Press (AP), however, Garcia believes that the rights to the image are ultimately his. I side with Garcia as well. Just because the work that one does is for a company, it still is the original product of the creator. The first of four factors under the Fair Use law states that "The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purpose". Altough Fairey profited from the HOPE poster, all of the proceeds went back into his work, so he essentially did not gain a "profit" per say. In the end, what is done is done and both of the creators of this artwork, Shepard Fairey and Mannie Garcia, are content with the outcome. The only lawsuits being filed deal with corporate infestation of an individual's work.