I once had an interesting conversation with illustrator and WallBreaker Barry Bruner that would have been alarming if I hadn’t seen the same thing happen on many other occasions. Barry and I discussed whether or not publicly telling the world about this would be the right thing to do. We agreed that it was.

Barry received an email from a campaign manager at Mike’s Hard Lemonade. The person claimed that he/she stumbled across some of Barry’s work and thought Barry might be interested in a project Mike’s was in the process of calling entries towards. Mike’s was looking for artists to create can artwork for a new flavor of lemonade. The chosen artist’s work was to be emblazoned on one of four limited edition cans, and would receive a $7.5K payoff for their work. On the surface this might seem like a great idea, but there are a few very alarming problems with these kinds of calls for entry.

The more we sift through our emails more finely the easier it becomes to tell when an email hasn’t genuinely been addressed to us. A lot of email is “fishing with dynamite,” so to speak. It’s the 21st century version of junk mail. At no point in this campaign manager’s email does he/she address Barry or his work directly, other than in the opening salutation. The campaign manager also claims to have “stumbled” across Barry’s work. If we were looking to hire someone, wouldn’t our level of due diligence be higher than that? Does anyone seriously consider hiring someone after just “stumbling” across their work?

Many people who are new to freelancing might not realize it, but when you generally forfeit all rights to your artwork once you enter the competition. Mike’s Hard Lemonade would be free to use your creation as they see fit going forward and would not be under any obligation to pay you for it. Think of it like a gift. If we painted a portrait for a friend and gave it to them, would that portrait still be ours to use as we wanted? No it wouldn’t. Our friend would own it.

The issue here isn’t with Barry, who’s established enough in his career and finances to see these pitfalls. Barry turned Mike’s down. The real issue here is with a young, or desperate enough, creative who mightn’t know any better and might jump at the chance to make a fast buck. Almost everyone who enters these kinds of competitions will almost never see the money we would have hoped to make, and lost all rights to our work in the process. It’s the exact opposite of what the game plan was. That’s playing the lotto. As Barry mentions, “contests like these take advantage of young, inexperienced artists who believe that entering into something like this could be their big break. Aside from the winners, all the entrants spent their time and hard work to license their art to a company for free.”

What should we do when receiving a mostly-bogus offer like this? Don’t panic. Most 21st century artists do, at some point, receive these kinds of offers. The first thing is to remember that, no matter the current financial state we’re in, we’ll almost certainly not see any money from these Calls for Entry, so creating artwork for the project is a complete waste of valuable time that could be spent finding financial happiness elsewhere. The second thing to do, as freelance illustrator Brett Affrunti pointed out on Breaking Walls: Episode 3, is to consult a Graphic Artist’s Guild Handbook, which lists fair pricing for every kind of freelance and/or professional creative work one can think of. It’s a good learning tool to figure out our own rates, which I think helps give me the confidence to say no to projects that are trolling for entries.

Let’s not going to shoot the messenger though. Just because this campaign manager sent these emails out, it doesn’t mean he, or she, is a bad person. This campaign manager was tasked with this project and was executing it to the best of his/her ability. I think we all need to help continue to establish a base where creative professionals receive fair wages by changing the overall culture of how non-creative professionals value creative professionals. Trying to get free work from professional creatives is too common in the creative/advertising industry. If we were to hire an electrician for $200, then only upon receiving him say “Oh sorry buddy, $50 works best for me,” not only would that electrician very angrily leave, other people who would hear of this would be rightfully appalled by our actions. The Freelancer’s Union is attempting to take steps to change this with a recent bill they’ve introduced to state legislature here in New York city.

We need to remember not to shoot ourselves in our own feet. We need to educate ourselves on fair pricing from approved guidelines. We need to talk with each other, to use common sense, and, most importantly, to be willing to educate those who want to hire us on fair pricing and mightn’t know better. I think the best way to feel comfortable being so open is to trust our emotions and our instincts. I’m learning it’s not my place to assume what kind of intentions a company hiring me has. I think that when we trust our instincts we always make the decision that’s best for ourselves. I’m also not lambasting anyone who might still want to these kinds of contests. Remember, communication is the key. We shouldn’t be angry when we receive these kinds of emails. Anger gets us no where. Barry’s response was both positive, and professional. I want to commend Barry for doing the right thing. It’s up to us to help educate ourselves and those who wish to hire us, because in the end we’ll all be better for it.

Keep getting out there and keep breaking those walls!

This article is an expanded version of one originally published on November 6, 2014.