More On The Beauty of Stealing

by Walter Naeslund on May 28, 2009

Dear Chris,

You left me a comment on my “Cut, Copy, Steal, But Never Lie”-post about how it is “NEVER okay to steal”. I believe you are missing my point, and since I believe it’s quite an important one I will dedicate this whole post to an answer to your comment.

The point is that this copy/mash-up/stolen goods/call it what you want/, works so well BECAUSE it is draws upon an existing campaign and because we leave a clear reference to it – much like linking to the original post when remashing it. Just like with the blog post, both parties benefit from keeping the discussion alive. The campaign CD Fredrik Lundgren put it best: “tap into the existing conversation”. Amen.

What ISN’T neither smart nor “okay” (if that matters) as you put it is to steal and pretending it’s your own. You are then missing out on the power of sailing on an existing idea while also behaving like a prick. And if you look at this post, you might want to consider what ad agencies have been up to for the past couple of decades.

And by the way, thank you for commenting!

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