She turned to Reddit to find out if she was asking too much to have her stolen artwork removed from a GoFundMe campaign. Here is the whole story.
She’s an Artist
OP was a senior in high school when she started having trouble with a group of classmates. She was also a talented artist, which played into the drama unfolding.
One of the girls in her class had a bad car accident during the first semester. She suffered a lot of injuries and had to undergo several surgeries.
The girl had never been nice to OP and mostly ignored her throughout high school. They even spread some nasty rumors about one of OP’s best friends.
An Accident Victim Who Had Never Been Nice to Her
So OP didn’t have a high opinion of the accident victim, but she still felt bad for her.
Not long after the car wreck, one of their classmates organized a GoFundMe to help pay for medical expenses that the girl’s insurance would not cover. They sent the link all around the school, trying to drum up as much support as possible.
OP visited the GoFundMe page and was shocked at what she saw there. The main visual on the page was a piece of artwork that OP had done for art class.
They Had Used Her Artwork, Without Asking
It wasn’t even a picture of the accident victim. It was a self-portrait of OP.
Even so, the GoFundMe organizers were using the portrait on T-shirts and other promotional material. They also cropped out her signature, so no one would be able to tell who had created the artwork.
And no one had ever asked her if it was OK to use the artwork. Probably because they knew what her answer would be.
OP contacted the student running the GoFundMe, and a friend who was helping her. They said they didn’t know the artwork belonged to OP. They promised to give her credit for all the visuals.
But OP didn’t want credit. She wanted them to remove her portrait from all of the GoFundMe materials.
She Wanted It Removed
The organizers told OP they already had T-shirts and that people associated it with the accident victim’s GoFundMe. OP told them she didn’t care and wanted the artwork removed.
Then the girls tried to guilt-trip her about it, and she said she would go through more official channels to get the portrait taken down.
At that point, the other girls took to social media and posted the messages OP had sent them. Needless to say, she was flooded with nasty messages from supporters of the injured girl.
They Exposed Her on Social Media
Even OP’s mom told her she was overreacting. She told her daughter she should just let it ride and not make a big deal. Forcing them to take down the artwork was just going to cause her a ton of trouble.
But OP is certain she’s right and that only she can decide who uses her artwork and how.
Most Redditors agree with OP and say that only she can make the call when it comes to her paintings. Many of them advised her to look into what sort of legal options she has.
Can She Be More Philanthropic?
Others say that she needs to consider the consequences even though she’s technically right. After all, she has to live in her town and deal with the fallout of the situation.
And still, others take a more humanitarian view. They say that OP probably has the legal right to remove her artwork. But they wonder what the harm would be in doing a nice thing for someone in need.
So, what do you think of this story? Is OP right for demanding that the girls remove her artwork from GoFundMe?
Or should she take her mother’s advice and just try to get along?
The post They Used Her Artwork in a Gofundme Campaign Without Her Permission. She Wants It Removed, Even if It Costs Them first appeared on Wealthy Living
Featured Image Credit: Shutterstock / Dean Drobot. The people shown in the images are for illustrative purposes only, not the actual people featured in the story.
Source: Reddit