Red Bull, Vodafone, Hello Foods, Blue Skies, Bel Aqua and Airtel
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Red Bull vendors gained unauthorized entry into the festival and left branded cars at the entrance on Sunday, 23 August
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Vodafone vendors walked through the festival wearing branded vests selling recharge cards to customers
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Hello Foods employees wore branded T-shirts and passed out flyers to festivalgoers
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Blue Skies set up a vending truck (G-G 2585-15 vending truck registration) at the entrance of Seaview Hotel on Sunday, 23 August after being told several times by the organizers to leave
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Bel Aqua took images from the festival and created an advertising campaign on their social media platforms branding their water
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An Airtel commercial featuring Kalybos in James Town uses the visual art of Jason Nicco-Annan without his permission or payment.
Every
year, we must confront well-resourced companies who exploit the
festival and the work of artists with impunity. This amounts to theft, a
persistent stealing of the intellectual property of artists, as a way
to boost sales with customers.
This
dishonest practice does not acknowledge the time, energy, and cost that
the artists and organizers of this festival have committed to the
realization of CHALE WOTE. The artists and organizers are not contacted
or recognized in name, an accurate portrayal of their work or payment
for the use of their work for corporate advertising. These businesses
don’t even stop to consider how an artist’s message might be compromised
through association with the selling of products.
This
goes against the very vision and mission of the CHALE WOTE Street Art
Festival that is to provide a platform to Ghanaian artists to create,
exhibit and make a livable wage from their crafts.
Furthermore,
the Instagram platform, @chalewoteghana, is unauthorized and not
associated in any way with the festival, REDD Kat Pictures or ACCRA
[dot] ALT. It is evident that the operators of this account are
attempting to capitalize off of five years of our team’s hard work and
determination.
The
tone, message and critical gaps in information about the festival and
participating artists is problematic, particularly, since many Instagram
users believe this to be the festival account.
The verified account for the festival is @chalewoteofficial.
All
information for the festival will come from this handle or
@accradotaltradio. More information about the CHALE WOTE Street Art
Festival and other ACCRA [dot] ALT activities can be found at
www.accradotaltradio.com.
Best,
Mantse Aryeequaye | Sionne Neely
Directors
ACCRA [dot] ALT
CHALE WOTE Street Art Festival
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