A controversy broke out over the weekend when news flooded Twitter, thanks in part to John Hodgman and James Urbaniak, of a Jamba Juice ad that looked suspiciously like the cartoon Get Your War On by David Rees. To wit:
Get Your War On:
Jamba Juice ad:
Both use clip art but, as others have pointed out, the resemblance goes a bit deeper than that. So what's an online cartoonist to do? Make some noise about it. Rees' site has become an in-depth chronicle of his war with "Jawa Juice" and an interesting place to reflect on what stealing means among those who recontextualize pre-existing material. Others have started to take notice too. Yesterday Fast Company ran an article discussing the controversy in the context of some other not-so-encouraging developments for the smoothie chain. Meanwhile, Rees has created his own Jamba Juice ad: