Occupy Wall Street protests inspire arty creativity, and, naturally, profiteers. The doings on the DIY E-Commerce site Cafe Press are particularly shitty. A little while ago, Jay Shells — metropolitan etiquette enforcer who punked FOX News — had outfitted the OWS marches with some snazzy new signs written by him and copywriter @blulaces. Behold, “Lost my job, found an occupation” the cheesy, cheap t-shirt, peddled for $15 to $19 a pop. Ew.

Jay Shells alert via Twitter:

The following sites have jacked our work & attempting to profit from #ows http://goo.gl/ZtUd9 http://goo.gl/09NFh http://goo.gl/pAbZZ

Shells tells ANIMAL he unsuccessfully tried to contact Cafe Press regarding “oxgraphics” and some anonymous little punk. He says:

In all three cases, they are using the “LOST MY JOB, FOUND AN OCCUPATION” slogan that was written by @blulaces and the poster designed by myself… We encouraged others to use our work to help support the movement, and were/are willing to share the file so people can print their own.

However, without copyrighting the slogans, there is nothing we can do to stop the swine from attempting to profit from it by selling tshirts, posters, mugs, tote bags, condoms and whatever the fuck else they are shilling. This is both shameful and corny. One could argue that this person/people are broke and found a way to make a few bucks while still helping support OWS, I guess. But shit seems corny to me either way. The posters/slogans should not be sold. They should be free for all to use.

The irony here is thick huh?

(Photo, right: Eric B Hart/Flickr)