North Texas Daily

At the University of North Texas, creativity is at an all-time high. Many podcasters, writers, photographers, videographers, illustrators, graphic designers and fashion designers push their ideas and products onto the UNT community. Generally speaking, UNT’s faculty, staff and fellow students significantly boost and support the creators who are true go-getters and very much risk-takers. However, there is not as much respect for the creative geniuses on UNT’s campus.

UNT’s creative geniuses generate custom and original business and masterpieces to not only showcase their talent, but to also help their livelihoods. Oftentimes they are sometimes taken for granted as some people, such as consumers and social media followers, may try to cheat and/or steal their masterpieces, ideas and money. It is blatant disrespect and shows that anyone is out to gain a profit, even if it is not their own work, including UNT’s student creatives.

It is not right for creatives to be taken for granted and/or stolen from. They should be respected just as any other professional, especially as their creativity provides them a livelihood and are valuable showcases of their talent.

Some consumers and social media users attribute their actions to the need for establishing an online presence to gain attention, to generate a profit for themselves and having the lack of courtesy to be respectful.

In particular, some social media users are thirsty for attention. They will do anything and everything to boost their profiles and status on social media. One of the ways they fulfill this is by stealing designs, artwork and/or ideas from an original owner. Some ways they conduct this are by covering a creator’s watermark and using their own filter or even photoshopping the original design.

It is simple common courtesy for consumers and social media users to provide their support to the creatives if they wish to repost and share the images of the artwork. For example, a courteous social media user who utilizes a videographer’s services will provide the Twitter handle and name of the creator as well as a possible gratitude statement. It is really that simple.

Some people argue that others need to make easy, fast money and apparently stealing ideas and artwork is the easiest way to fulfill that task. Also, some consumers and social media users argue that they were not aware of the requirement to maintain the creators’ services by keeping the watermark visible, for example. However, as soon as consumers and social media users utilize the services and products of creators, they should be held accountable, show courtesy and common respect.

Therefore, some solutions to this issue are that consumers and social media users should put themselves into the shoes of the creatives and uphold their integrity. Taking a step back and considering the feelings and hard work of the creatives will push more consumers and social media users to understand that their actions can be either positively or negatively impactful. This also ties into the integrity of both the consumer and social media user. They too have an option to make the correct choice and purchase from the original artist, instead of just taking it.

UNT’s creative community should be respected, especially as they create new and original art. It is not ethical nor moral to be rude and disrespectful to the creatives by stealing their ideas and artwork and/or generating a profit from their results. It is unreasonable and disrespectful to steal from fellow students and creatives.

Featured Illustration: Jae-Eun Suh